Christiana Figueres (Diplomat): Karen Christiana Figueres Olsen is a Costa Rican diplomat. She was appointed Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change on May 17, 2010, succeeding Yvo de Boer. Figueres had been a member of the Costa Rican negotiating team since 1995, involved in both UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol negotiations. She has contributed to the design of key climate change instruments. She is a prime promoter of Latin America’s active participation in the Convention, a frequent public speaker, and a widely published author. She won the Hero for the Planet award in 2001.