Volume 18, No.01 - January 0
The following staff member was promoted in December:
Anna Satarova, Staff Assistant, Division for Social Policy and Development
The following staff member retired in December:
Charles Milenko, Programming Assistant, Development Policy and Analysis Division
Ms. Jan McAlpine, Director of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF), retired in November 2013. During her tenure as Director, she launched the innovative Facilitative Process, which provides enhanced capacity development for developing countries to mobilize forest financing, and developed a fundraising strategy which generated over $18 million by developing a bottom-up, technical and expert program of work for UNFF.
Throughout her 35-year career, she has worked on strategic policy and planning related to environment, trade, finance and social issues at the United Nations, in Government, including the Office of the President of the United States and in multilateral not-for-profits and academic institutions. Ms. McAlpine previously served as Senior Negotiator and Advisor for Forests for the United States Department of State, as well as the Chairman of the International Tropical Timber Council and is currently a member of the World Future Council.
Ms. McAlpine has been instrumental in conceiving and implementing international initiatives such as the Congo Basin Forest Partnership, the Liberia Forest Initiative and most recently Rwanda’s Forest and Landscape Restoration initiative. Her efforts resulted in a $9.5 million grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for the Rwanda project ($63 million in total funding) in 2012. She has been honored by various academic institutions including the Swedish Royal Academy and the German Society of Foresters.
Jan McAlpine grew up in Central and Southern Africa, in Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Kenya and South Africa.
See the DESA News interview with Ms. McAlpine that she gave ahead of the UN Forum on Forest 10 that took place on 8-19 April 2013 in Istanbul.
The following staff members were promoted in November:
Kebebush Welkema, Research Assistant, Division for Sustainable Development
Lydia Debbie Gatan, Staff Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Thilo Maier, Information Systems Officer, Statistics Division
Leah McDavid, Information Technology Assistant, Financing for Development Office
LienKim Nguyen, Editorial Assistant, Population Division
Richard Roehrl, Senior Economic Affairs Officer, Division for Sustainable Development
The following staff members were promoted in October:
Josephine Melody Cruz, Meetings Services Assistant, Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination
Roy Lamazon, Programme Assistant, Division for Sustainable Development
Mohammad Markie Muryawan, Chief of Section, Statistics Division
Yun-Hui Sheng, Administrative Officer, Executive Office
The following staff members retired in October:
Tewodros Yohannes, Statistics Assistant, Statistics Division
Ralph Wahnschafft, Sr. Economic Affairs Officer, Division for Sustainable Development
The following staff members were promoted in September:
Patricia Lim, Budget & Finance Officer, Executive Office
Loreley Juanita Sanchez, Administrative Assistant, Population Division
Abdulla Gozalov, Statistician, Statistics Division
Linda Marie Hooper, Statistician, Statistics Division
Irma Perez Rito, Staff Assistant, Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination
Phyllis M.Roberts, Senior Staff Assistant, Office of the Under-Secretary-General
Fathimath Thowfeequ, Social Affairs Officer, Division for Social Policy and Development
The following staff member retired in September:
Bruce Shearouse, Administrative Officer, Executive Office
Thomas Gass of Switzerland was appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
Mr. Gass, who will take up his position on 3 September, brings with him wide-ranging experience in bilateral and multilateral development cooperation. Since August 2009, he has served as Head of the Mission of Switzerland to Nepal (Ambassador and Country Director of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation).
Before his posting to Nepal, Mr. Gass was Head of the Economic and Development Section at the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations in New York. He also served as Policy and Programme Officer for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, as Deputy Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Guyana, and as Regional Director for Europe with the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute in Rome.
Born in 1963, Mr. Gass holds a PhD in natural sciences from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and an MSc and engineering diploma in agricultural sciences from the same Institute. He is married and father of three adult children.
The following staff members were promoted in August:
Haitian Lu, Principal Programme Officer, Office of the Under-Secretary-General
Huanyu Liu, Economic Affairs Officer, Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination
The following staff member was promoted in July:
Leah Lagunda, Human Resources Assistant, Executive Office
Thomas Stelzer, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs and Secretary of the Chief Executives Board (CEB), will leave his post on 30 June to assume his new position as Austrian Ambassador to Portugal.
Thomas Stelzer joined the United Nations in March of 2008. His first challenge upon assuming his post was the Global Food Crisis, to which the CEB responded by establishing the High Level Task Force on Food Security. Throughout eleven CEB Sessions, Thomas Stelzer supported the Secretary-General in UN system-wide coordination efforts. The Economic and Financial Crisis of 2008, the 2010 MDG Summit, Climate Change, Sustainable Energy, Rio+20 and the post-2015 Development Agenda were among the CEB core issues. In preparing for the High Level Dialogue on Migration and Development, the CEB was able to bring the Global System together on an important emerging issue in identifying, together with the GMG, recommendations and outcomes. Accelerating MDG implementation will be key to the CEB agenda until 2015.
Within DESA, Thomas Stelzer supported two successive USGs on strategic, political and management issues. He coordinated political processes and many DESA contributions to UN system-wide activities. He was the focal point for MDGs and coordinated the Secretary-General’s MDG Advocates Group. As Chair of the UN MDG Task Team, he led preparations for the 2010 MDG Summit, an enormous multi-stakeholder success. In addition to supporting the inter-governmental processes, Thomas Stelzer pro-actively engaged a wide array of stakeholders, working with them on their contributions towards the MDGs and linking them to UN activities. He participated in multitudinous Conferences, many times as key-note speaker, supporting inter-governmental processes, civil society activities, academia, and the UN relations with the private sector. He contributed to many aspects of the sustainable development agenda, like water, food security, sustainable energy, migration, forests, social inclusion and economic opportunities. He represented the Secretary-General in numerous conferences, like the Global Forum on Migration and Development, Global Social Business Summit as well as the yearly Global Summits of Nobel Peace Laureates. He remains passionate about the United Nations and will continue to support the Secretary-General in advocating UN issues, principles, strategies and actions.
The following staff member was promoted in June:
Grigor Agabekian, Economic Affairs Officer, Development Policy and Analysis Division
The following staff members were promoted in May:
Candace Charbonne, Information Systems Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Mary Lee Kortes, Editorial Assistant, Development Policy and Analysis Division
Madeleine Losch, Programme Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Krishnan Sharma, Senior Economic Affairs Officer, Financing for Development office
Deniz Susar, Governance & Public Administration Officer, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
The following staff members retired in May:
Yao N’goran, Social Affairs Officer, Division for Social Policy and Development
Babukutty Simon, Research Assistant, Division for Sustainable Development
The following staff members were promoted in April:
Wei Liu, Sustainable Development Officer, Division for Sustainable Development
Michelle Alves de Lima-Miller, Programme Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Chi Hyun Cho, Statistics Assistant, Statistics Division
Hanna W. Denekew, Research Assistant, Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination
Kimberly Gruber, Information Systems Officer, Statistics Division
Carlos Gusukuma, Research Assistant, Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination
Margo Kemp, Programme Assistant, Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination
Wai Min Kwok, Governance & Public Admin officer, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Maria Angela Parra, Senior Economic Affairs Officer, Office of the Under-Secretary-General
Diego Rumiany, Programme Officer, Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination
Matteo Sasso, Human Resources Officer, Capacity Development Office
The following staff members were promoted in March:
Oleg K. Serezhin, Senior Social Affairs Officer, Division for Social Policy and Development
Jianqun Wang, Information Systems Officer, Communications and Information Management Service
Ms. Haiyan Qian, Director of DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management, a devoted wife, loving mother and dedicated International Civil Servant for the United Nations, died on the morning of 18 February 2013 at the age of 57 after a heroic battle with cancer. Throughout the past 33 years, Ms. Qian dedicated her career to global public policy, governance, science and technology, public administration and development.
Since joining DESA, Ms. Qian served as Chief Manager of the United Nations Public Administration Network (UNPAN) and Chief of the Knowledge Management Branch before becoming Director of the Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) on 1 February 2009. Prior to joining DESA, Ms. Qian worked for other United Nations agencies, including the Centre for Science and Technology for Development and UNEP’s Centre on Environmentally Sound Technology in Japan.
Before joining the United Nations, Ms. Qian worked for the Chinese Government in the area of science and technology for development and served in the Chinese Permanent Mission to the United Nations based in New York, covering the United Nations Second Committee on Economic and Social Affairs.
As noted by Mr. Hongbo Wu, Under Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, “Haiyan was a wonderful colleague and a great asset to the UN. Her dedicated service to the Organization’s goals is a source of inspiration to us all.”
Ms. Qian has left a legacy founded on hard work, dedicated service and loyalty. She was a visionary leader who was admired and respected by all her colleagues and others in the field of public administration from around the world.
Ms. Qian received her Bachelor of Arts in Beijing, China and her Master in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA.
Messages of condolence to Ms. Qian’s family, friends and colleagues can be posted at http://haiyan.unpan1.org
A Chinese web site created by a few UN Chinese colleagues can be found here: http://qianhaiyan.last-memories.com/
The following staff members were promoted in February:
Joshua Del Duca, Team Assistant, Division for Social Policy and Development
Marilou D.Vicente, Computer Systems Assistant, Population Division
Federica Pietracci, Senior Economic Affairs Officer, Division for Sustainable Development
Maria Cynthia Sicangco, Finance & Budget Assistant, Executive Office
Natalie Ollier-Stolzenbach, Editorial Assistant, Population Division
Nadezhda Demidova, Finance & Budget Assistant, Executive Office
Lydia Debbie Gatan, Secretary, Development Policy and Analysis Division
The following staff member retired in February:
Serguey Ivanov, Population Affairs Officer, Population Division
John R. Wilmoth was appointed Director of the Population Division effective 2 January 2013. With a distinguished academic background, Mr. Wilmoth has served as Professor of Demography at the University of California at Berkeley and has previously also worked for the Population Division as Chief of its Mortality Section from 2005 to 2007.
Mr. Wilmoth is the author or co-author of more than 50 scientific papers on various aspects of population dynamics, including trends in human longevity, the impact of population ageing on government transfer programmes, and the popular debate about world population growth.
Mr. Wilmoth was furthermore the lead consultant to the World Health Organization for the development of new maternal mortality estimates, used for the monitoring of MDG 5.
Read the interview with Mr. Wilmoth
Elia Yi Armstrong assumed the position as Chief of the Development Management Branch at DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) in January. Ms. Armstrong started her career in social services working with non-profit organizations and development NGOs before joining the Canadian public service in 1993. She served the Treasury Board Secretariat and the Privy Council Office of the Government of Canada and was also seconded briefly to the Public Management Service of the OECD.
Prior to joining DPADM in the late 1990s, she was a short-term consultant to the Consulate-General of Canada in New York. At DPADM, Ms. Armstrong worked in the Public Administration Capacity Branch and the Office of the Director. She was seconded to the UN Ethics Office in 2006 and also served as the Director of the UNDP Ethics Office from July 2008 to April 2012.
Ms. Armstrong holds a B.S.W. (social work) from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada and a MSc. from the University of London, London School of Economics. She also received her second degree MSc. in Social Policy, Planning and Participation in Developing Countries.
The following staff members were also promoted in January:
Sharon Spiegel, Chief of Branch, Financing for Development office
Haoyi Chen, Statistician, Statistics Division
Vyatcheslav Cherkasov, Sr. Governance & Public Admin. Officer, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Zin Lin, Statistics Assistant, Statistics Division
Eric Olson, Senior Economic Affairs Officer, Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination
The following staff members retired in January:
Magaly Fernandez, Statistics Assistant, Statistics Division
Gerhard Heilig, Chief of Section, Population Division
Felice Llamas, Senior Social Affairs Officer, Division for Social Policy and Development
Armindo Miranda, Senior Population Affairs Officer, Population Division
Dolores Vicente, Secretary, Division for Social Policy and Development
Paul Cheung, Director of DESA’s Statistics Division, will retire at the end of December 2012. Since his appointment at the United Nations in 2004, Mr. Cheung has provided strong leadership to the development of the global statistical system. The UN Statistical Commission is now universally recognized as its apex entity. In 2012, there were 136 member states attending the Commission, an 80% increase from 2004.
During his tenure, the Statistics Division organized the first-ever World Statistics Day in 2010, won three UN21 Awards, and launched many innovations including UNdata. Mr. Cheung chaired the International Technical Advisory Boards for the population censuses in Iraq and Afghanistan and was involved in census preparations in Kosovo, Bosnia and Myanmar.
Recognizing the importance of geospatial information to the development of societies, he initiated the intergovernmental mechanism on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM). This initiative was endorsed by ECOSOC in 2011 with the establishment of the Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management.
Mr. Cheung is well known and recognized around the world for his contribution to the development of official statistics and for initiating the GGIM process. He will return to his home country Singapore and will teach at the National University of Singapore.
Rob Vos will leave his position as Director of the Development Policy and Analysis Division (DPAD) in January. Before joining the UN in 2005, Mr. Vos was a Professor of Finance and Development at the Institute of Social Studies in the Hague, and Professor of Development Economics at the Free University in Amsterdam.
Between 1999 and 2002, Mr. Vos was Deputy Rector of the Institute of Social Studies. He has also worked as a senior economist at the Inter-American Development Bank, where he co-founded the Inter-American Institute for Social Development (INDES) and initiated the programme on improving surveys of living conditions in Latin America (MECOVI).
He has also been a visiting professor at numerous universities around the world and has worked as a policy advisor and consultant to several governments in Latin America, Africa and Asia. His work covers a broad range of development issues, including trade policy, inequality and poverty; financing for development; poverty and social policy analysis; and macroeconomic and general equilibrium modeling for development policy.
Mr. Vos has published numerous books where the most recent include “Globalization and Economic Diversification: Policy Challenges for Economies in Transition” (with MalinkaKoparanova, Bloomsbury, 2011); “Economic Insecurity and Development” (with Richard Kozul-Wright, United Nations, 2011); “Public Policies for Human Development” (Palgrave, 2010); and “Ageing and Development” (with José Antonio Ocampo and Ana Luiza Cortez, Oriental Blackswan/Zed Books, 2007).
Mr. Vos will join the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN in Rome as the Director of Rural Development and Poverty Reduction.
The following staff member also retired in December:
Virgilio Castillo, Programme Analyst, Statistics Division
The following staff members were promoted in December:
Flor Velazco Juarez, Programme Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Silvia Schwarz, Programme Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
The following staff members were promoted in November:
Htike Htike Kyaw Soe, Statistics Assistant, Statistics Division
Matthias Kempf, Economic Affairs Officer, Development Policy and Analysis Division
Matthew Stockton, Information Systems Assistant, Population Division
Lynn Thway, Finance & Budget Officer, Executive Office
Nadia Tse, Budget & Finance Assistant, Executive Office
Mr. Hazem Fahmy assumed the position as Chief of the Multistakeholder Engagement & Outreach Branch at DESA’s Financing for Development Office (FfDO) in October. Mr. Fahmy started his career in 1987 at the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has served at the Egyptian Mission to the EU, in the Egyptian Foreign Minister’s Cabinet and at the Egyptian Permanent Mission to the UN.
During his term at the UN he was elected Vice President for Africa on the Executive Board of UNDP (2001), and Vice Chairman for Africa on the Bureau overseeing the preparatory process of the International Conference on Financing for Development (Monterrey 2002), as well as the “Rapporteur General” for the Conference.
Mr. Fahmy is currently a Minister Plenipotentiary at the Egyptian Foreign Service seconded to the United Nations’ Secretariat. In addition to his appointment with FfDO in 2003, he has also worked on UN reform issues at the Executive Office of the Secretary-General between January 2006 and January 2007, before returning back to FfDO.
Hazem Fahmy holds a B.A. in Economics from the American University in Cairo (1986), a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University (1990), a Masters of Philosophy in Economics from the New School University (2007) and a PHD in Economics from the New School University (2011).
The following staff members were also promoted in October:
Adriana Alberti, Sr. Governance & Public Administration Officer, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Bertha Bravo-Hernandez, Programme Assistant, Division for Social Policy and Development
Aimee Gao, Information Systems Assistant, Communications and Information Management Service
The following staff member retired in October:
Jean Collison-Morris, Finance & Budget Assistant, Executive Office
Ms. Kathleen Abdalla, Chief of the Emerging Issues Branch of the Division for Sustainable Development, retired at the end of September 2012 after serving more than 15 years in DESA and more than 27 years in the United Nations. An economist, she specialized in energy and sustainable development issues and during her tenure also served as Chief of the Energy and Transport Branch. In addition to preparing numerous UN reports and papers, she has published in professional journals on these topics.
Ms. Abdalla contributed to the United Nations work on climate change, including as an original member of the Secretary General’s Climate Change Team that launched the SG’s High level event on climate change prior to COP15.
She served as Acting Director of the Division for Sustainable Development for one year during which the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) successfully concluded its 16th session. She provided support to the various sessions of the CSD and to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in the areas of energy, transport, atmosphere and climate change. Most recently, Ms. Abdalla was the Cluster Leader on Fundraising and Logistics for Rio+20 and worked closely with the Brazilian National Organizing Committee for Rio+20.
Prior to joining DESA, Ms. Abdalla served the United Nations in Iraq, Jordan and South Africa. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Connecticut.
The following staff members also retired in September:
Martha Luque, Programme Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Michael Mimicopoulos, Senior Economic Affairs Officer, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
The following staff members were promoted in September:
Elvira Cachola, Programme Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Jean Collison-Morris, Budget & Finance Assistant, Executive Office
Eder Garcia, Budget & Finance Assistant, Executive Office
Maria Guran, Meetings Services Assistant, Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination
Saw Htoo, Technical Co-operation Assistant, Development Policy and Analysis Division
Matthias Reister, Senior Statistician, Statistics Division
Igor Ribeiro, Computer Information Systems Assistant, Population Division
Suwanee Thatchaichawalit, Team Assistant, Executive Office
Oksana Yarashuk, Programme Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Mr. Wu Hongbo assumed the office of Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs on 1 August 2012, following his appointment to this position by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 31 May. “I am honoured for the opportunity to serve the United Nations and I look forward to working closely with DESA colleagues in the coming years,” Mr. Wu said in a message to DESA staff on his first day in the office.
Prior to joining the United Nations as head of DESA, Mr. Wu was Ambassador of China to Germany. Mr. Wu brings over 30 years of experience in international relations. A veteran diplomat with his broad experience and numerous leadership roles, Mr. Wu will guide DESA’s normative, analytical and capacity development work, especially as it advances towards a post-2015 development framework with sustainable development at its core.
Mr. Barney Cohen joined the Population Division in the position of Chief of the Population Studies Branch. Mr. Cohen comes to the UN from the National Academy of Sciences, where he was Director of the Committee on Population, designing and executing a programme of work aimed at strengthening science-based population policy both domestically and internationally.
He has worked on a very wide variety of domestic and international topics, covering the full range of demographic issues. In addition to supervising the organization of countless scientific meetings and workshops of the U.S. Academy of Sciences and the publication of over thirty books and numerous shorter reports, he has also co-authored close to three dozen journal articles or chapters in books.
The following staff members were promoted in August:
Michael Behrman, Information Systems Officer, Statistics Division
Xinxin Cai, Programme Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Fred Doulton, Social Affairs Officer, Division for Social Policy and Development
Marie Oveissi, Chief, Capacity Development Office
Michael Platz, Economic Affairs Officer, Financing for Development office
Maria Stella Simpas, Programme Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Man Mohan Soni, Statistics Assistant, Statistics Division
Sha Zukang, who served as Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs for five years, completed his term at the end of July 2012. In addition to his role as head of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs and Convenor of the Executive Committee on Economic and Social Affairs, Mr. Sha served as Secretary-General for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), which took place in Rio de Janeiro from 20 to 22 June 2012.
A career diplomat before joining DESA, Mr. Sha held many leadership positions for the Chinese Foreign Ministry over the years, and chaired intergovernmental meetings in different international organizations, including the UN Conference on Trade and Development and the Human Rights Council.
For more information: Bio of Mr. Sha
On 30 June, after many years of service, Jomo Kwame Sundaram left his position as Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development at DESA. During his tenure, Mr. Jomo was involved in all areas of the Department’s work enhancing performance, impact and accountability whilst holding a broad range of managerial responsibilities.
Mr. Jomo led the UN system response to the 2005 Summit, supporting Member States to implement National Development Strategies, and in 2007 he was responsible for coordinating a major budget reform to enhance human and other financial resources for the UN Secretariat’s development work. In 2010, he was selected by the UN Secretary-General as his G20 ‘sherpa’, and was also appointed G20 ‘Finance Deputy’ for the UN.
In response to the global financial crisis, Mr. Jomo initiated the UN system-wide supplementary Macroeconomic Advisory Capacity and later served on the [Stiglitz] Commission of Experts on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System. Additionally, Jomo represented the UN SG at the IMF’s International Monetary and Financial Committee and the World Bank-IMF’s Development Committee until 2011.
In his different capacities, Mr. Jomo worked to build and broaden international consensus to enhance the impact of collective action by the international community. Most recently he was instrumental in coordinating efforts to articulate a post-2015 UN Development Agenda.
For more information: Bio of Mr. Jomo
The following staff members also retired in July:
Patricia David, Administrative Assistant, Division for Social Policy and Development
Anna Marie Francia, Administrative Assistant, Division for Sustainable Development
Erlinda Go, Statistician, Statistics Division
Maria Dolores Tanpinco, Technical Co-operation Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
The following staff members were promoted in July:
Amal Abou Rafeh, Social Affairs Officer, Division for Social Policy and Development
Guenther Gross, Chief, Communications and Information Management Service
Charles Hoag, Staff Assistant, Development Policy and Analysis Division
Felice Llamas, Senior Social Affairs Officer, Division for Social Policy and Development
Francesca Perucci, Chief of Branch, Population Division
The following staff members were promoted in June:
Julian Chow, Statistician, Statistics Division
Yongyi Min, Statistician, Statistics Division
ZuZu Tun, Staff Assistant, Executive Office
The following staff members retired in June:
Alexander Tankov, Finance Officer, Capacity Development Office
Andrew Yager, Senior Economic Affairs Officer, Division for Sustainable Development
Mr. Navid Hanif has been appointed to the post of Director, Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination, where he was Acting Director since September 2011 and also chaired the UN DESA Task Force on Peacebuilding.
In January 2010, Mr. Hanif became the Head of the newly established UN DESA Strategic Planning Unit and was also designated as the Secretary of the Executive Committee of Economic and Social Affairs effective 1 August 2010.
During 2004-2009, he served as the Chief of the Policy Coordination Branch and led the process of designing and launching new functions of ECOSOC, particularly the Annual Ministerial Review.
In 2005, he was sent on a special one year assignment as a Principal Officer in the Office of the United Nations Secretary-General. He worked there as a member of the team for the 2005 World Summit, which adopted a number of new initiatives, including new functions for ECOSOC.
Before joining UN DESA in 2001, Mr. Hanif served for 6 years at the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN where he chaired and facilitated negotiations on a number of important resolutions, which led to the convening of major UN conferences.
Mr. Hanif holds Masters in International Political Economy from Columbia University, New York and Masters in English Literature from the Government College/University, Lahore.
The following staff members were also promoted in May:
Shaoling Chen, Statistics Assistant, Statistics Division
Andres Campbell, Staff Assistant, Statistics Division
Daniel B. Eshetie, Associate Information Systems Officer, Statistics Division
Huanyu Liu, Economic Affairs Officer, Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination
The following staff member retired in May:
Mohan Peck, Senior Sustainable Development Officer, Division for Sustainable Development
The following staff member was promoted in April:
Melissa Lazarovich, Finance and Budget Assistant, Executive Office
The following staff members retired in April:
Luis Prugue, Programme Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Alice Samuel, Editorial Assistant, Population Division
The following staff members were promoted in March:
Junko Fondi, Programme Assistant, Statistics Division
Rosanne Greco, Programme Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Seema Hafeez, Sr. Governance & Public Admin Officer, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Isabelle Mc Kusick, Staff Assistant, Division for Sustainable Development
Sandar Soe, Meetings Services Assistant, Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination
The following staff members retired in March:
Carmen Rosa Bravo-Somma, Reference Assistant, Population Division
Magali Caban, Administrative Assistant, Division for Sustainable Development
The following staff member was promoted in February:
Arlene Cezar, Programme Assistant, Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination
The following staff members retired in February:
Sergei Gorbunov, Economic Affairs Officer, Financing for Development office
Pacita Montanez, Finance & Budget Assistant, Executive Office
Peter Trupia, Statistics Assistant, Statistics Division
Ms. Hania Zlotnik, Director of UN DESA’s Population Division, retired at the end of January 2012. A Mexican national, Ms. Zlotnik studied mathematics at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and holds a Ph.D. in Statistics and Demography from Princeton University.
During her long career at the Division, which she joined in 1982, Ms. Zlotnik has worked in all the major areas of population research, serving as Chief of the Mortality and Migration Section (1993-1999), chief of the Population Estimates and Projections Section (1999-2003), and Assistant Director (2003-2005), overseeing work on fertility, mortality and migration. She was appointed Director of the Population Division in February 2005; she is the tenth person to serve as Director of the Division and the first woman to do so.
Ms. Zlotnik has edited or written numerous reports published by the United Nations, including studies of international migration and development, trends in international migration, female migration, population distribution and migration, population estimates and projections, population ageing, and levels and trends of urbanization. Her work has contributed in particular to provide better estimates of international migration worldwide and to the improvement of statistics on international migration.
Ms. Zlotnik has been an active member of several professional associations, serving as Board Member for the Population Association of America from 2001 to 2003 and as Vice-President of the International Union for the Study of Population (IUSSP) from 2001 to 2005.
The following staff members also retired in January:
Muhammad A Chaudhry, Chief of Branch, Division for Sustainable Development
Teguest Debebe Haile, Programming Assistant, Statistics Division
Ms. Wenyan Yang has been appointed Chief of the Social Perspective on Development Branch (SPDB) within the Division for Social Policy and Development (DSPD). Previously Senior Social Affairs Officer in DSPD, she is the Division’s focal point supporting the work of the Commission for Social Development and plays a key role in the preparation of the publication Report on World Social Situation.
As Acting Chief of the Coordination and Outreach Unit, she was responsible for implementing overall outreach and communications activities in the UN Division for the Advancement of Women and for facilitation of the Non-Governmental Organization participation in the UN intergovernmental processes, especially the Commission on the Status of Women and the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Violence against Women.
She started her UN career as an Economic Affairs Officer in the Macroeconomic and Development Policy Analysis Division, contributing to the major departmental publication World Economic and Social Survey.
Ms. Wenyan is a graduate of Peking University in China and New York University in the US.
The following staff members were promoted in December:
Michelle Alves De Lima-Miller, Team Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Martin Kraus, Senior Programme Officer, Capacity Development Office
Jeanne Santamaria, Forest Policy Officer, Secretariat of the United Nations Forum on Forests
The following staff members retired in December:
Manuel Montes, Chief of Unit, Development Policy and Analysis Division
Rosalinda Sanchez, Meetings Services Assistant, Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination
The following staff members were promoted in November:
Jaspreet Doung, Statistics Assistant, Statistics Division
Francesca Grum, Chief of Section, Statistics Division
Lingyan Hu, Statistics Assistant, Statistics Division
Graham Osborn, Statistics Assistant, Statistics Division
The following staff members retired in November:
Karen Eckerson, Administrative Assistant, Executive Office
Maria Rossi, Finance Assistant, Capacity Development Office
Mr. Thomas Buettner, Assistant Director and Chief of the Population Studies Branch of the Population Division, retired at the end of October 2011. He joined the Population Division in 1992 and worked mostly in the area of population estimates and projections. Mr. Buettner made major contributions to the work of the division. He improved the methods to project mortality and fertility and oversaw the development of major software packages to produce the population estimates and projections, some of which are still the “state-of-the-art” in the field. The module to estimate and project the population impact of HIV/AIDS is one example.
As Assistant Director, Mr. Buettner provided leadership in making major changes in the methodology used to project populations and supported the intergovernmental work of the Division with skill and tact. Mr. Buettner is returning to his home city of Berlin where he hopes to continue contributing to the field of population.
The following staff members also retired in October:
Indrakanthi Jayawickrema, Staff Assistant, Division for Sustainable Development
Hanna Negatu, Technical Co-operation Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
The following staff members were promoted in October:
Youlia Antonova, Chief of Section, Statistics Division
Maria Corazon De La Rosa, Administrative Assistant, Capacity Development Office
Astrid Hurley, Social Affairs Officer, Division for Social Policy and Development
Jana Grace Ricasio, Senior Programme Officer, Capacity Development Office
Shouchun Zheng, Statistics Assistant, Statistics Division
Mr. Nikhil Seth has been appointed as Director for the Division for Sustainable Development (DSD) and Head of the Office of the Conference Secretary-General (CSG) Mr. Sha Zukang for the Rio+20 Secretariat effective 1 September.
During his career with the United Nations since 1993, Mr. Seth has served as Special Assistant and Chief of Office to the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, as Secretary of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the Second Committee of the General Assembly, and, most recently, as Director of the DESA Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination (OESC), where he guided the ECOSOC’s work in implementing several new key mandates, including its Annual Ministerial Review and Development Cooperation Forum.
Prior to joining the United Nations, Mr. Seth served in the Indian diplomatic service, where his assignments included Geneva, DRC, Central African Republic, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, as well as the Permanent Mission of India, New York.
The following staff members were promoted in September:
Elvira Doyle, Programme Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Kay Govia, Programme Assistant, Office of the Under-Secretary-General
Gabriela Guevara, Associate Administrative Officer, Capacity Development Office
Ching-Hua Hsiung, Budget Assistant, Capacity Development Office
Lissy Joseph, Human Resources Assistant, Capacity Development Office
Alicia Lovell-Squires, Administrative Assistant, Office of the Under-Secretary-General
Cristina Rojas-Espinosa, Administrative Assistant, Office of the Under-Secretary-General
Nancy Settecasi, Desktop Publishing Assistant, Development Policy and Analysis Division
The following staff member retired in September:
Maria Luz Aragon, Programme Assistant, Division for Social Policy and Development
Tariq Banuri retired on 31 August as Director of the Division for Sustainable Development and Head of Office of the Conference Secretary-General for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20). Mr. Banuri has broad experience on the interface between policy, research and practical actions on the realization of the goal of sustainable development. He has also worked in government, academia, civil society and the international system.
Before joining the UN, he was Senior Fellow and Director of the Future Sustainability Program at the Stockholm Environment Institute. He started his career in the Civil Service of Pakistan, went on to receive a PhD in Economics from Harvard University, joined the UN as a Research Fellow at the World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER), a model that he adopted in setting up and serving as the founding Executive Director of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in Pakistan.
Mr. Banuri has served on national as well as international forums for policy, advocacy, and research, including as a Coordinating Lead Author on the Nobel Prize-winning Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), as a member of the Board of Governors of Pakistan’s Central Bank, and of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Council, and as a member/secretary of Pakistan’s Presidential Steering Committee on Higher Education. He has also served as the Chair of the Board of Governors of the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), and was a founding member of the Great Transition Initiative (GTI).
Nikolai Zaitsev retired on 31 August as Head of DESA’s Capacity Development Office. Mr. Zaitsev joined the UN in March 1982 as an economic research staff of the UN Centre on Transnational Corporations. He initiated and produced a study on TNCs and the environment, which led to many subsequent UN publications in this field.
In 1987-1991, Mr. Zaitsev was the project officer of a pioneering technical cooperation programme in the former Soviet Union on foreign direct investment. This programme had an important trigger effect that helped change perceptions (and policies) in the last years of the USSR on investment cooperation with the rest of the world. In 1992-1993, he held the position of Secretary of the UN joint delegation to the three international conferences on the Commonwealth of Independent States. Immediately after, he served as Coordinating Secretary of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the CIS, which would eventually lead to the establishment of UN Joint Offices in all the republics of the CIS.
In the late 1990s, Mr. Zaitsev became part of the original “pack” of practitioners in the Secretariat which introduced Results based Budgeting (RBB) in the UN regular budget programming and implementation. He was one of the main ‘brains’ behind the concept of IMDIS which is still used by the Secretariat for programming and reporting of its activities. He advanced the idea and steered the development of the Travel DataBase – today one of the key administrative tools in DESA.
In 2002, Mr. Zaitsev became Chief of the OUSG in DESA, a post he would hold for seven productive years, aiding three consecutive USGs, making him the longest serving Chief of Staff in the history of the Department. In February of 2009, he became Head of DESA’s Capacity Development Office. His important responsibilities have included the management of the UN Development Account, a role he has been playing enthusiastically since Day One of the Account’s establishment in 1997.
The following staff member also retired in August:
Cynthia Conti, Programme Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Ndey Isatou Njie joined the Division for Sustainable Development (DSD) as Chief of the Water, Energy and Strategies Branch, effective 8 August. Ms. Njie has 32 years experience in water resources and environmental management, managing strategic framework processes for sustainable development, and capacity development.
Prior to joining DSD, she served as UNDP’s capacity development practice leader for West and Central Africa. As UNDP’s Africa Regional Coordinator for Capacity 2015, Ms. Njie coordinated the support for national preparatory processes for WSSD for a number of African countries, whilst as Regional Coordinator for Capacity 21, she coordinated the support for the preparation and implementation of national sustainable development strategies for project countries in Africa. She worked with IUCN as strategic planning adviser for Africa under the strategies for sustainability programme.
Ms. Njie was the first Executive Director for The Gambia National Environment Agency (NEA), and led the national preparations for UNCED. She has served in a number of international advisory positions which include: the chair of the policy consultative group for natural resources management in Africa, for the World Resources Institute (WRI); member of the board of directors for Lead international; member of the board of directors of the Network of for Environment and Sustainable Development in Africa (NESDA); and member of the African advisory group for SEMCIT ( Sustainability, Education, and the Management of Change in the Tropics).
The following staff members were promoted in August:
Andrea De Luka, Statistics Assistant, Statistics Division
Maria Guran, Team Assistant, Statistics Division
Carlos Gusukuma, Information Management Assistant, Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination
Dominika Halka, Economic Affairs Officer, Financing for Development office
Phillicia Waite, Senior Staff Assistant, Development Policy and Analysis Division
Mr. Donald Lee retired on 31 July 2011 as Chief of the Social Perspectives on Development Branch in the Division for Social Policy and Development of DESA, a position he held with distinction, where he led the team for the DESA flagship Report on the World Social Situation, and provided substantive support to the Commission for Social Development and its Bureau.
He began his career in the UN with ESCAP and moved to DESA to work on finance and trade issues in the Division for Sustainable Development. He later joined the Division for Social Policy and Development to head its work on poverty and employment – development issues that have defined his major contributions in the UN. He helped establish the Youth Employment Network in 2001 and was until his retirement a member of its Steering Committee.
Mr. Lee also had stints as head of the Secretariat of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and the Communications and Information Management Service (CIMS). In CIMS, he spearheaded a major redesign of the DESA website, with an emphasis on ensuring accessibility for persons with disabilities.
He was the focal point in DESA for the International Year of Microcredit 2005 and a member of its Coordinating Committee. At his retirement, he was the co-Chair of the Coordinating Committee for the International Year of Cooperatives 2012 and Chair of the Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives (COPAC). He relished the challenge of unusual assignments and was Coordinator of side events for the High-level event on MDGs in 2008, and the MDG Summit in 2010.
In recognition of his contribution to poverty issues and the observance of the UN international day for the eradication of poverty, he was invited to join the International Committee for October 17th which actively promotes the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
Mr. Yacob Zewoldi retired on 31 July 2011 as Chief of the Demographic Statistics Section in the Statistics Division of DESA, a position he held since 2010. His retirement marks 25 years of dedicated service to DESA’s Statistics Division and to the Statistics Division of UNECA, in particular in the area of population and housing censuses.
Mr. Zewoldi has an extensive career in public service, both at national and international levels, working on projects and assignments on population and housing censuses; sample surveys; demographic and social statistics; and statistical capacity building.
Mr. Zewoldi has also served as Chief of the Statistical and Geographic Conferences Unit for three years where he coordinated the preparatory activities for the UN Statistical Commission and headed the Secretariats for the following: UN Group of Experts on Geographical Names; UN Regional Cartographic Conference for the Americas; and the UN Regional Cartographic Conference for Asia and the Pacific.
Mr. Zewoldi holds a BSc in Statistics and a MSc in Demography. He has also completed a UN sponsored one-year program at the Office of Population Research, Princeton University in 2003.
He will be remembered mostly for his many contributions in advancing the principles and recommendations for population and housing censuses under the 2000 and the 2010 round of the World Population and Housing Censuses Programme.
Additional staff members who retired in July:
Jones Joscelyn, Research Assistant, Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination
Valerian Monteiro, Desktop Publishing Assistant, Development Policy and Analysis Division
The following staff members were promoted in July:
Candace Charbonne, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Awet Segid, Statistics Assistant, Statistics Division
Maria Cynthia Sicangco, Meetings Services Assistant, Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination
Catheryn Tajon, Staff Assistant, Statistics Division
Isabel Tanedo, Team Assistant, Executive Office
The following staff members were promoted in June:
Xinxin Cai, Team Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Daphnis Novoa, Information Technology Assistant, Division for Sustainable Development
Carol Pollack, Social Affairs Officer, Division for Social Policy and Development
The following staff member retired in June:
Marilyn El-Shahawi, Editorial Assistant, Population Division
Ms. Daniela Bas was appointed Director of DESA’s Division for Social Policy and Development on 9 May 2011. A politologist specialized in international politics, human rights and social development, Ms. Bas has most recently served as Senior Consultant designated by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as expert on human rights to Institutes that operate internationally. She has also provided her expertise on anti-discrimination issues at the Presidency of the Council of Ministers.
Ms. Bas has worked for close to 10 years for the UN as a Professional Officer in social development and human rights, traveling around the world on behalf of the UN and also as a speaker at international conventions. She has also held a number of other significant assignments including as Special Adviser on “Fundamental Rights” for the former Vice President of the European Commission; as the Italian representative designated by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers on the topic “Tourism for All” to the European Commission; and as journalist and broadcaster for Italian Radio and TV.
Ms. Bas is a Board Member of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights and of the Committee to Promote non-Armed and non-Violent Civil Defense of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. She graduated in Political Science in 1985, with a major in International Politics and wrote a dissertation on ”The elimination of architectural barriers and the employment of people with physical disabilities”.
The following staff members were promoted in May:
Ursula Germann, Programme Officer, Office of the Under-Secretary-General
Luis Collantes, Computer Information Systems Assistant, Division for Social Policy and Development
The following staff members retired in May:
Alexei Tikhomirov, Adviser, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
The following staff member retired in April:
Ann Orr, Senior Economic Affairs Officer, Financing for Development office
The following staff members were promoted in March:
Isabelle Mc Kusick, Team Assistant, Division for Sustainable Development
Maria Melissa Paca, Statistics Assistant, Statistics Division
Simona Maria Chindea, Staff Assistant, Division for Sustainable Development
The following staff members were promoted in February:
Ingo Pitterle, Economic Affairs Officer, Development Policy and Analysis Division
Luis Prugue, Programme Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Marta Roig, Social Affairs Officer, Division for Social Policy and Development
The following staff member retired in February:
Lourdes Ma. Regina Beplat, Meetings Services Assistant, Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination
The following staff members were promoted in December:
The following staff members were promoted in December:
The following staff members were promoted in November:
Odd, Anderson, Statistician, Statistics Division
Madhushree Chatterjee, Senior Programme Officer, Strategic Planning Unit, Office of the Under-Secretary-General
Gabriela Guevara, Budget Assistant, Capacity Development Office
Leah Kennedy, Public Information Assistant, Development Policy and Analysis Division
Joshua Kneidl, Information Systems Officer, Statistics Division
Clare Menozzi, Population Affairs Officer, Population Division
Romain Perez, Sustainable Development Officer, Division for Sustainable Development
Yacob Zewoldi, Chief of Section, Statistics Division
The following staff members retired in November:
Marcela Guimaraes, Administrative Assistant, Executive Office
The following staff members were promoted in October:
Marie O. Antoine, Senior Staff Assistant, Office of the Under-Secretary-General
Aida Diawara, Statistics Assistant, Statistics Division
Juanita Llanto-Barnett, Programme Assistant, Division for Sustainable Development
Patience Stephens, Principal Officer, Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women
The following staff members retired in October:
Joliette Jean, Staff Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Ramachandra Kurup, Secretary, Development Policy and Analysis Division
The following staff members were promoted in September:
Charles Katoanga, Chief, Budget & Finance Section, Executive Office
Visitacion Icasiano, Documents Management Assistant, Office of the Under-Secretary-General
Adriana Ribeiro, Information Management Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Paul Pacheco, Statistics Assistant, Statistics Division
The following staff members retired in September:
Ricardo Espina, Economic Affairs Officer, Financing for Development office
Mr. Ronald Jansen was appointed as Chief of the Trade Statistics Branch in the Statistics Division, DESA, effective 1 August 2010. In this new capacity, he is responsible for statistics of international trade in goods and services and tourism statistics. Before this appointment, Mr. Jansen was Chief of the Capacity Development Section in the Office of the Director, managing the technical cooperation activities of the Statistics Division since May 2008.
Mr. Jansen received all his formal education in the Netherlands studying Statistics and Psychology at the University of Groningen, where he graduated in 1984. Thereafter, he taught Statistics and did his own research at the University of Nijmegen, obtaining a PhD in mathematical modeling of human information processing. In June 1990 he joined the Statistics Division, where he worked for many years in the area of international trade statistics, of which 6 years in Geneva.
The following staff members were promoted in August:
Wai Min Kwok, Information Management Officer, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Olivier Munyaneza, Economic Affairs Officer, Financing for Development office
Anna Marquinez, Research Assistant, Financing for Development office
Patty Elahi, Team Assistant, Financing for Development office
Sawitri Gismar, Team Assistant, Capacity Development Office
The following staff member retired in August:
Vladimir Drjuchin, Chief of Section, Statistics Division
Mr. Donald Lee was appointed Chief of the Social Perspective on Development Branch in the Division for Social Policy and Development, DESA, effective 1 August 2010. With this move, he returns to the Division for Social Policy and Development where he had earlier served as Chief of the Poverty Eradication and Employment Section from 2000 to 2007. Currently, Mr. Lee is the Officer-in-Charge of the Communications and Information Management Services (CIMS), a position he has held since July 2009. He has served as Secretary of the Executive Committee for Economic and Social Affairs since June 2007, and was also a member of the Strategic Planning Unit in DESA when it was launched in late 2009.
Mr. Lee joined the United Nations in 1991 as a Transnational Corporations Officer in the UNCTAD/ESCAP Joint Unit on Transnational Corporations. He later served as an Economic Affairs Officer with ESCAP in Bangkok, until he moved to New York in 1997 to join the Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development (now the Division for Sustainable Development) in time for the preparations for the Rio+5 Summit. Mr. Lee has an MSc and PhD in Economics from University College London. He is married with two daughters.
The following staff members were promoted in July:
Matthias Bruckner, Economic Affairs Officer, Development Policy and Analysis Division
Vilma Frani, Staff Assistant, Statistics Division
Anke Green, Social Affairs Officer, Division for Social Policy and Development
Justine Jacques, Staff Assistant, Division for the Advancement of Women
Doris Schmitz -Meiners, Economic Affairs Officer, Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination
Silvia Schwarz, Public Information Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Thu Rein Win, Statistics Assistant, Statistics Division
Wai-Lan Wu, Administrative Assistant, Statistics Division
Maria Marchione-Novoa, Research Assistant, Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination
Ms. Elsa Stamatopoulou left the United Nations on 31 July 2010 as Chief of the Secretariat of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, in DESA’s Division for Social Policy and Development, a position she held with distinction since the establishment of the Secretariat of the Forum in 2003. Her departure marks 31 years of service at the United Nations (Vienna, Geneva and New York) of which some 23 were dedicated to the human rights field. Indigenous issues were part of her portfolio since 1983.
Ms. Stamatopoulou’s academic background in law, international law, criminal justice and political science and her rich experience, including in international normative frameworks, institution-building, the rights of indigenous peoples, cultural rights, rights of children, rights of women, human rights and development, human rights learning, development and marginalized groups, private sector issues, and inter-agency inter-governmental cooperation as well as cooperation with civil society equipped her with a keen understanding of the potential and avenues for impacting on public policies to improve the lives of indigenous peoples around the world. She worked tirelessly to serve the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and support its mandate as a cornerstone in this filed.
Mr. Vladimir Markhonko retired on 31 July 2010 as Chief of DESA’s Trade Statistics Branch, a position he held with distinction since 2003. His retirement marks many years of dedicated service to the Statistics Division and, in particular, to the field of international trade statistics.
With a PhD in Economics from Belarus State University and his experience as an associate professor there, he started his United Nations career in New York in 1982. During his twenty eight years of service many UN methodological publications and technical reports were prepared under his direct guidance and supervision in the areas of international trade, distributive trade, tourism and energy statistics.
He will be remembered mostly for his many contributions in advancing the recommendations for international merchandise trade statistics. As a fitting conclusion, the newly revised recommendations in this area were adopted by the UN Statistical Commission at its most recent session in February this year.
The following staff members retired in July:
Theresa Chu, Programming Assistant, Communications and Information Management Service
Julitha Kiswaga, Documents Management Assistant, Office of the Under-Secretary-General
The following staff members retired in June:
Yoshinobu Yonekawa, Programme Officer, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Diana Lin, Administrative Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
Atsede Mengesha, Editorial Assistant, Division for Social Policy and Development
The following staff members were promoted in June:
Brenda Olivas, Editorial Assistant, Population Division
Charmaine Williams-Carter, Administrative Assistant, Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination
The following staff members were promoted in May:
Flor Bonilla, Programme Assistant, Division for Sustainable Development
Sarangerel Erdembileg, Senior Social Affairs Officer, Division for Social Policy and Development
Leah Lagunda, Human Resources Assistant, Executive Office
Rosemary Lane, Senior Social Affairs Officer, Division for Social Policy and Development
Hung-Yi Li, Economic Affairs Officer, Development Policy and Analysis Division
Oliver Paddison, Economic Affairs Officer, Development Policy and Analysis Division
Carolin, Schleker, Social Affairs Officer, Division for the Advancement of Women
The following staff member retired in May:
Vladimir Servianov, Economic Affairs Officer, Division for Sustainable Development
The following staff member will be reassigned in June:
Maria Isabel Cobos-Fernandez, Associate Statistician, Statistics Division to Associate Population Affairs Officer, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The following staff members were promoted in April:
Shaoling Chen, Statistics Assistant, Statistics Division
Claire Fellini, Editorial Assistant, Division for Sustainable Development
Meriam Gueziel, Senior Staff Assistant, Office of the Under-Secretary-General
Joscelyn Jones, Research Assistant, Office of ECOSOC Support and Coordination
Valerian Monteiro, Dektop Publishing Assistant, Development Policy and Analysis Division
Dolores Tanpinco, Technical Cooperation Assistant, Division for Public Administration & Development Management
Mr. Ivan Koulov was appointed Executive Officer, DESA, effective 26 March 2010. Before joining the Department, Mr. Koulov was Chief of the Human Resources Management Service at the United Nations Office in Geneva since 2006. He also served as Chief of the Administrative Services Division at the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia in Beirut from 2002 to 2006, as Special Assistant to the ASG for Planning and Support at the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) in New York from 1998 to 2002 and as Chief of DPKO’s Supply Section since 1995.
Mr. Koulov started his career with the United Nations in 1990 as Political Affairs Officer and served as well as Legal Adviser, Chief Procurement Officer and Operations Officer at the UN Interim Force in Lebanon and at the UN Operation in Somalia. He holds a PhD in international law and is fluent in French and Russian with some knowledge of Spanish. Mr. Koulov is married with one daughter.
The following staff members were promoted in February:
The following staff members retired in March:
Mr. Vincenzo Aquaro was appointed, effective 1 February 2010, as Chief, Knowledge Management Branch, Division for Public Administration & Development Management. Before joining the United Nations, Mr. Aquaro was the Chairman of the Board and CEO of Formit Servizi S.p.A., a leading company in the field of e-governance advisory, management and monitoring services. He was also a member of the Scientific Committee of FORMIT Foundation, and President and CEO of CARMA Research Consortium, with offices in Rome, Naples, Bari, Brussels and Moscow.
Recognized as an international expert in the area of e-governance matters and ICT technology transfer programs for Public Administration, Mr. Aquaro was also a member of the board and professor of the Masters in “ICT Governance: development, management and monitoring” at the University of Rome 3. Mr. Aquaro holds a degree in Electronic Engineering – automatic controls – from the University of Bari, Italy.
The following staff members were promoted in February:
* Janette Amer, Chief of Section, Division for the Advancement of Women
* Cynthia Conti, Technical Co-operation Assistant, Technical Cooperation Management Service
* Nicole Hunt, Statistics Assistant, Development Policy and Analysis Division
* Flor Velazco-Juarez, Programme Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
The following staff members retired in February:
* Veda Gittens, Technical Co-operation Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
* Estrellita Kriveloff, Budget Assistant, Capacity Development Office
Mr. Alexander Trepelkov was appointed, effective 1 January 2010, Director of the Financing for Development Office in DESA, following six years of service as Chief of Branch. Since 2000, his main function was to support the engagement of multiple stakeholders from the official and private sectors in the Financing for Development process, in order to promote policy coherence, coordination and cooperation at all levels.
His professional experience includes substantive support for intergovernmental deliberations on the 2002 Monterrey Consensus, 2005 World Summit Outcome, 2008 Doha Declaration on Financing for Development and, most recently, the outcome document of the 2009 Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Development.
His previous assignments at United Nations Headquarters (1989-1999) were in the areas of Macroeconomics and Development Policy. Prior to joining the United Nations Secretariat, he had a diplomatic career of twelve years in the Foreign Service of the former Soviet Union. Mr. Trepelkov holds MA and Ph.D. in Economics from MGIMO-University and authored several publications.
The following staff members were promoted in December:
The following staff members retired in January:
Ms. Carolyn Hannan Ms. Carolyn Hannan, retired on 31 December as Director of DESA’s Division for the Advancement of Women, a position she held with distinction since December 2001. Her retirement marks many years of dedicated service to the goal of gender equality and development, which began long before she joined the United Nations, both in her home country of Sweden, and in Africa, where she lived and worked for more than 10 years.
Ms. Hannan’s academic background in social and economic geography and social anthropology, and her rich work experience covering many countries and gender perspectives in many areas, including water supply and sanitation, health, population, statistics, human settlements, natural resource management, governance and poverty eradication, equipped her with a keen understanding of the impact of major developments on women and gender equality. She has been tireless in her efforts to ensure that important concerns and cutting-edge thinking have been brought to the attention of policymakers and others in positions of power with potential to make a positive difference in women’s lives.
How will Ms. Hannan remember her eight years at the Division for the Advancement of Women? These years were “intense”, “never, ever dull”, and “always lightened by the dedication and positive team-spirit of DAW colleagues”, she says. Her coming years are sure to be equally fulfilling.
The following staff members were promoted in December:
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