Rebeca Grynspan

Rebeca Grynspan Mayufis (born December 14, 1955) is a Costa Rican economist and diplomat who has served as Secretary-General of UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) since 2021, the first woman to hold that post. She previously served as Secretary-General of the Ibero-American General Secretariat from 2014 to 2021 and as Second Vice President of Costa Rica from 1994 to 1998, in addition to holding several cabinet and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) posts. A member of Costa Rica's National Liberation Party, Grynspan built her early career in domestic finance and social policy before moving into multilateral diplomacy, where she has held senior roles at the UNDP, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Ibero-American General Secretariat. As head of UNCTAD, she helped broker the Black Sea Grain Initiative during the Russian invasion of Ukraine and led the agency's 2024 rebranding as "UN Trade and Development." In October 2025, the government of Costa Rica nominated Grynspan as its candidate in the 2026 selection process to succeed António Guterres as UN Secretary-General; as of September 2026 she is regarded as a leading contender to become the first woman to hold that office.