A native of Pobè in Benin, Marcel Alain de Souza was the President of the ECOWAS Commission from 8 April 2016 to 28 February 2018, succeeding Kadré Désiré Ouédraogo of Burkina Faso and followed by Jean-Claude Kassi Brou of Côte d'Ivoire. Marcel Alain de Souza held a master's in economics from the University of Dakar and a post-graduate degree in administration and banking from the West African Training Centre for Banking Studies; he completed his economics training at the IMF Institute in Washington. De Souza spent much of his career at BCEAO, where he gradually rose through the ranks, from a position as an internal auditor in the Cotonou office to that of national director for Benin then director of administration at the Bank's headquarters in Dakar. In 2011 he was appointed Minister of Development, Economic Analysis and Forecast in the government of President Thomas Boni Yayi. Marcel Alain de Souza was the fourth President of the Commission and the first of Beninese nationality since the Commission was instituted in 2006, replacing the Secretariat. Bearing the "ECOWAS Taxi" initiative, he made the free movement of people and goods a priority of his mandate. Mr de Souza passed away on 17 July 2019 in Paris.
