Helen Clark

Who is Helen Clark?

Helen Elizabeth Clark, ONZ SSI was the 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand, serving three consecutive terms from 1999 to 2008. She was the first woman elected, at a general election, as the Prime Minister, and was the fifth longest serving person to hold that office. She has been Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, the third-highest UN position, since 2009.

Clark graduated from the University of Auckland in 1974 and became politically active in the New Zealand Labour Party as a teenager. While a junior lecturer at the University in the early 1970s, Clark entered local politics in 1974 in Auckland but was not elected to any position. In 1975 she came second for Labour in the rural seat of Piako.

In 1981 she was elected to Parliament for the safe Labour seat of Mount Albert, a position she held until her resignation in 2009. During the 1980s and early 90s, Clark held numerous Cabinet positions in the Fourth Labour government, including Minister of Housing, Minister of Health and Minister of Conservation. She held the position of Deputy Prime Minister for a year.