Elayne G. Whyte is a diplomat and academic. Currently she is a Professor of Practice at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). In her diplomatic career she has special experience in the fields of security, human rights, regional integration, foreign policy making and implementation and global governance. She was the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Costa and served as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations

With extensive expertise, she has a longstanding history of navigating policy and legal negotiations on national, Latin American, and global scales. Moreover, she has spearheaded numerous negotiations to address legal gaps and foster cooperation within the universal human rights framework and the global health agenda, particularly within the World Health Organization. In the field of international security and nuclear disarmament, in 2017 she was the President of the United Nations Conference that negotiated and adopted the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which entered into force in 2021.  

Elayne was a Fellow at Harvard University’s Weatherhead Scholars Program and at the Advanced Leadership Initiative. She has also served as Adjunct Professor at the International Law Department of the United Nations-mandated University for Peace, as well as in the School of International Relations of the National University of Costa Rica. Beyond public service, she has served as the Executive Director of the Mesoamerica Integration & Development Project, which coordinates and delivers social and economic development projects across the Central American region and as a senior consultant on regional integration, security, human rights, development and democratic governance for international organizations and academic institutions.