Margarita Cedeño de Fernández, First Lady of the Dominican Republic

Margarita Cedeño de Fernández, First Lady, Dominican Republic

She is the wife of President Leonel Fernández. As First Lady, she and her staff coordinate social policies for her husband’s administration, generating programs of health and education for children, young people, single mothers and the family, in general, as a key element in society.

She has experience in the private sector where she was part of prestigious law firms in the Dominican Republic, among which the law firm of Doctor Abel Rodríguez del Orbe and Fernández y Asociados, where she is an associate member. During the years 1996-2000, she assisted as legal counselor to the President nominated as Sub-secretary of State. Besides being ad honorem counselor and director of the Legal and Investment Environment Management of the Office for the Promotion of Foreign Investment of the Dominican Republic.

She has a Doctorate in Law from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo and a Masters in Economic Legislation from the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra. She also has participated in courses and seminars at Georgetown and Harvard University in the United States and Geneva University in Switzerland.

On 16 October 2009, Margarita Cedeño de Fernández was nominated Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).