Omar Abdi is a Somali-Canadian diplomat. He serves as the Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF and a board member of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.1)
Abdi has a bachelor of science in civil engineering from the Somali National University in Mogadishu. He later received a doctoral degree in development economics and a master’s in regional development planning, both from Cornell University.2)
Abdi formerly served on the Board of Directors for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health.3) 4)
In 2020, Abdi was part of the selection committee that chose José Manuel Barroso as chair of Gavi's board.5)