Meet Your Attorney
David Beasley, a former Governor of South Carolina, recently served as the Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), having been nominated by two President’s Administrations of two different parties and appointed to that role initially in 2017 by the UN Secretary-General of the United Nations and served until April 2023.
Under Mr. Beasley’s leadership, WFP was the largest humanitarian organization in the world assisting over 160 million people in 2022 alone and raising over $55 billion USD. In 2020, Mr. Beasley received the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of WFP for its efforts to provide food assistance in conflict areas and to prevent food from being used as a weapon of war and conflict.
In his acceptance speech delivered in Oslo on December 10, 2021, Mr. Beasley stated that “Working with 115 million people in 80 countries, day-in and day-out, the women and men of WFP have gained a unique perspective. We have learned that there is great richness in those who are seen, in the eyes of the world, as “the poor.” And many of us who are considered “rich” are actually poor in the things that matter most.”
Mr. Beasley also received the John F. Kennedy Profiles in Courage Award for his stand on the Confederate Flag as well as many other awards. He majored in Microbiology at Clemson University and received a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from the University of South Carolina. He also was a Fellow and taught at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government. He is married to the former Mary Wood Payne and is the father of four children and four grandchildren.
Positions Held
- Governor of South Carolina, 1995-1999
- Chairman, National Advisory Committee on Rural Health, United States
- Department of the Health and Human Services Administration
- Chairman, Republican Governors Association
- South Carolina House of Representatives, 1979-1992
- House Speaker Pro Tempore
- Chairman, House Education and Public Works Committee
- House Majority Leader
- Chairman, Joint Legislative Committee on Education
- Vice-Chairman, Joint Legislative Committee on Children
- Member, University of South Carolina Board of Trustees
- Member, Francis Marion University Board of Trustees
- Member, Columbia International University Board of Trustees
- Member, ACYPL Board of Trustees
- Executive Director, United Nations World Food Programme
Professional History
- Partner, Beasley, Ervin & Warr Law Firm
- Executive at Carolina Bank & Trust Company
- Board of Directors, Carolina Bank & Trust Company
- Fellow, Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government
- Senior Advisor to Merrill Lynch
- Chairman of the Center for Global Strategies
- Executive Director, UN World Food Programme
- Distinguished Professor of Practice and Public Service at the University of South Carolina School of Law
Awards & Honors
- Nobel Peace Prize as Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme
- Honorary Doctorates: University of South Carolina, Clemson University, The Citadel, Charleston Southern University, Regent University, the Medical University of South Carolina, the College of Charleston, and Newberry College, Yeungnam University for International Development
- John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award Recipient
- American Swiss Foundation Friendship Award Recipient
- Watchdog of the Taxpayers Award
- Stephen Covey Prize for Leadership
- Arthur Vandenberg Award for bipartisan leadership
- Elliott Richardson Award for excellence in public service
- Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award from the USC Alumni Association
- Durant Award by the S.C. Bar Foundation
- Ancient Order of Malta for humanitarian service
- Order of the Two Niles, highest honor of Sudan
- And many other local, state, national and international recognitions
