Anne-Claire Legendre has been appointed President of the Institut du monde arabe (IMA) in Paris. Legendre will be the first woman to preside over the institute.
A career diplomat, from December 2023 to February 2026, Legendre was the North Africa and the Middle East adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron,
Legendre, who earned a degree from the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations orientales (INALCO) and is an Arabic speaker, formerly served as Consul General of France in New York in 2016, French ambassador to Kuwait in 2020, and later became the spokeswoman at the Foreign Ministry. She also played a key role in France’s recognition of Palestinian statehood at the UN General Assembly.
