About the Leadership Team
The appointment of senior leaders is one the most significant responsibilities of the Secretary-General, in his capacity as the Chief Administrative Officer of the Organization. The Secretary-General attaches the utmost importance and exercises with great care, the discretionary authority that is vested in him by the General Assembly for the appointment of senior leaders.
The Secretary-General has established a recruitment and selection process to advertise and search for the most suitable person for a particular leadership position. The process carefully balances the need for securing the transparency and impartiality of the process with the need to share information with Member States and the public, while protecting the confidentiality and privacy of the candidates.
The Secretary-General is also committed to ensuring that there is gender parity among his senior leadership team and that senior leaders who fall under his direct authority are appointed from as wide a geographical basis as possible: in the Departments and Offices of the Secretariat, Peacekeeping Operations and Special Political Missions, the Regional Commissions, Funds and Programmes and Other Entities.
While the Secretary-General has in most cases the ultimate authority to make the final selection, some senior positions are governed by specific General Assembly and Security Council resolutions with stipulations placed on their appointment process ranging from term limits to consultations with intergovernmental bodies, Member States and Board Members upon nomination by the Secretary-General.
Major General Diodato Abagnara, Head of Mission and Force Commander, United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon
Abdou Abarry , Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Central Africa and Head of the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa
Omar Abdi, Assistant Secretary-General, Deputy Executive Director (Programmes) of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
Angeli Achrekar, Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of the Programme Branch of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
Abdallah Al Dardari, Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator and Director, Regional Bureau for Arab States of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Ramiz Alakbarov, Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator
Armida Alisjahbana, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
Major-General Anita Asmah, Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF)
Mohamed Ayoya, Deputy Special Representative for the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) and Resident Coordinator for the Central African Republic
Sima Bahous, Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women)
Natalie Boucly, Deputy Commissioner-General (Programmes and Partnerships) of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
Ilze Brands Kehris, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights and Head, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in New York
Susan Brown, Assistant Administrator and Director, Bureau for External Relations and Advocacy of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Winifred Byanyima, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
Magdalena Carmona, Director of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD)
Edward "Ted" Chaiban, Assistant Secretary-General, Deputy Executive Director, Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
Kelly Clements, Deputy High Commissioner in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
George Conway, Deputy Special Representative for Somalia with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) and Resident Coordinator in Somalia
Claudio Cordone, Deputy Special Representative for Political Affairs and Electoral Assistance of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI)
Rania Dagash-Kamara, Assistant Executive Director for Partnerships and Resource Mobilization of the World Food Programme (WFP)
Kirstine Damkjær, Deputy Executive Director, Delivery and Partnerships of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)
Rola Dashti, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)
Antonia Marie De Meo, Deputy Commissioner-General (Operational Support) of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
Khassim Diagne, Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP)
Ahunna Eziakonwa, Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Africa, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Rabab Fatima , High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS)
Virginia Gamba de Potgieter, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
Pedro Guazo Alonso, Representative of the Secretary-General for the investment of the assets of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund
Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, Deputy Executive Director for Normative Support, System Coordination, Programme Results
Elinor Jane Hammarskjöld, Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel
Nicholas Haysom, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for South Sudan and Head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan
Ghulam Isaczai , Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator
Alexander Ivanko, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara and Head of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara
Miroslav JenÄa, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia
Diene Keita, Acting Executive Director and Assistant Secretary-General, Deputy Executive Director (Programme)
Bintou Keita, Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Head of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Nicholas Koumjian, Head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar est by the HRC in res 39/2 of 27 Sept 2018, to Collect, Consolidate, Preserve and Analyse Evidence of the Most Serious Int'l Crimes and Violations of Int'l Law C'tted by Myanma
Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East
Bruno Lemarquis, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator
Mohamed M. Malick Fall, Assistant Secretary-General, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria
Carlos Massieu Aguirre, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti and Head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH)
Miguel Moratinos Cuyaubé, High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations
Joyce Mpanju, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator
Michelle Muschett Zimmermann, Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean (RBLAC)
Marcos Neto, Assistant Administrator and Director, for Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS)
Clementine Nkweta-Salami, Assistant Secretary-General, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan
Cherith Norman Chalet, Assistant Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management
Parfait Onanga-Anyanga , Special Representative of the Secretary-General to the African Union and Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union
Roza Otunbayeva, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan
Robert Petit, Head of the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism Investigating Serious Crimes in Syria
Karla Quintana Osuna, Head of the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic
Chandramouli Ramanathan, Controller, Assistant Secretary-General for Programme Planning, Finance and Budget
Indrika Ratwatte, Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator
Ingeborg Richardson , Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the United Nations Support Mission in Libya and Resident Coordinator in Libya
Valentine Rugwabiza , Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Central African Republic and Head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic
José Salazar-Xirinachs, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
MarÃa Salvador, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti and Head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti
Major General Ramón Sánchez, Head of Mission and Chief Military Observer for the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan
Christian Saunders, Special Coordinator on Improving the UN Response to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
Colin Stewart, Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus
Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Abubacarr Tambadou, Registrar of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT)
Vivian van de Perre, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Protection and Operations, United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Robert van der Zee , Acting Representative of the Secretary-General for United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund Asset Investments
Ghada Waly, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna
Kanni Wignaraja, Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific (RBAP)
Ivana Živković, Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (RBEC)