Ingrid-Gabriela Hoven was born in 1960 in Setterich, Germany. She studied economics and political science at Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany, and Paris IX Dauphine University in France. After graduating, she worked as a research assistant at the Chair for Development Economics. She then went on to complete postgraduate studies at the German Development Institute in Berlin.
From 1986 to 1990, she was responsible for bilateral development cooperation with Zambia, Mozambique and Swaziland as a desk officer at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Between 1990 and 1995, she worked for the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH, initially as a government advisor to the National Planning Secretariat and the Finance Ministry in Guatemala and later as a planning officer at the Economic and Social Policy, Legal Affairs and Public Administration Division at GTZ Head Office in Eschborn, Germany.
She then returned to BMZ, where she held a number of different positions. In 1999, she was appointed Head of the Environment Division and became a board member of the Global Environment Facility. From 2003 onwards, as head of the ‘Planning and principles of cooperation with countries and regions’ directorate, she addressed central reform processes in bilateral development cooperation and the repositioning of the development cooperation portfolios in emerging economies. She was also commissioner for Latin America during this time. Three years later, she was appointed Director-General for ‘Bilateral development cooperation with Asia and Latin America, United Nations, peace-building, human rights, good governance’.
Between 2010 and 2014 she represented the German Government as Executive Director in the World Bank Group. In this role she helped to embed climate action and sustainability goals within the new World Bank reform process. She then rejoined BMZ, initially as commissioner for climate policy and finance and later as Director-General for Global Issues, focusing in particular on displacement and migration, governance, climate change mitigation and sustainability. In this position she represented BMZ on the management bodies of the Global Fund (GFATM), the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI), the Green Climate Fund and the Global Center on Adaptation.
Ingrid-Gabriela Hoven is a member of, amongst others, the Supervisory Board of the German Energy Agency (dena), the Advisory Board of the Development and Peace Foundation (sef:), and the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) Steering Committee.
Ingrid-Gabriela Hoven is married with one son and lives with her family in Bonn.