Jacques-Édouard Alexis (born 21 September 1947) is a Haitian politician. He served as the Prime Minister of Haiti from 1999 to 2001 and was Prime Minister for a second term from 2006 to 2008 when he was dismissed due to political fallout from food riots. Early life and career Alexis was born in Gonaïves, Haiti on 21 September 1947. He is the great-great grandson of President Pierre Nord Alexis and Princess Marie-Louise-Amelie-Celestina Pierrot, a daughter of Prince Jean-Louis Pierrot. He attended school at Lycée Geffrard in Gonaïves (1959–1964) and later Lycée Toussaint Louverture in Port-au-Prince (1964–1966). He received a degree in agricultural engineering from the State University of Haiti in 1973. After graduation, Alexis held a series of jobs in academia. He was an assistant professor of chemistry at the State University of Haiti from 1973 to 1976 and a teaching and research assistant at Université Laval, Quebec, Canada, from 1977 to 1978, earning his Master of Science degree in food science and technology from Université Laval in 1979. He was then a professor of food technology and post-harvest technology at the State University of Haiti (1979–1987), a professor of post-harvest technology and human nutrition at Ecole Moyenne d’Agriculture (1979–1985), and Dean of the Faculty of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine at the State University of Haiti (1985–1987). Between 1987 and 1990, he coordinated the founding of Quisqueya University, where he served as the school's first rector from 1990 to 1995. Under President René Préval, Alexis served in the government as the Minister of National Education, Youth, and Sport (1996–1999), Minister of Culture (1997–1999), and Minister of the Interior and Territorial Communities (1999–2000). As Prime Minister First term Alexis was nominated as Prime Minister by Préval on 16 July 1998, following congressional rejections of three prior nominees that had resulted in a year-long political crisis. His nomination was preliminarily ratified by the Senate on 17 December and by the Chamber of Deputies on 17 December despite an unfavorable report regarding his management of funds as Minister of Education. Completion of the ratification process requires ratification of the nominee's proposed cabinet and general policy; Alexis's final ratification was delayed by the insistence of opposition leaders that they receive cabinet posts. Parliament passed a bill extending their term so that they could continue the ratification process, but Préval denied that they had authority to do so, announcing on 11 January (the final day