Axel M. Addy is an international trade and private-sector development leader who served as Liberia's Minister of Commerce and Industry, where he led the country's accession to the World Trade Organization as Chief Negotiator, one of the fastest WTO accessions on record for a least-developed country. He is the Founder and CEO of Ecocap Investment Group, advising governments, companies, and multilateral institutions on trade and investment across Africa, and in 2018 was inducted by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as Grand Commander, Order of the Star of Africa, one of Liberia's highest honors.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Addy served as Liberia's first Country Representative for Population Services International, where he built and led one of the country's largest youth reproductive-health and child survival programs, partnering with Liberia's Ministry of Health, USAID, the Global Fund, UNFPA, and UNICEF to mobilize close to six million dollars for HIV prevention, reproductive health, and child-survival initiatives. He has served on several public and private boards and currently serves as a Director on the Board of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Liberia. He holds an MBA from the University of Oxford and degrees from UCLA and California State University, Long Beach.