The President of the General Assembly is committed to upholding full respect for balanced gender and geographical representation in the Office, with the aim of securing equal opportunities for women and men from all regional groups and bearing in mind the need to secure the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity.

The Office currently has 48 team members from 36 countries of which 31 (65%) are women

 

Office of the President of the General Assembly for the Seventy-Eighth Session 

Staff Directory  

Positions funded by the regular budget 
  Name  Team/Position  Level 
1  Amb. Collen Kelapile                           Chef de Cabinet  D2 
2  Mr. Fernando A. Marani (5 September-2 January)  Deputy Chef de Cabinet  D2 
3  Ms. Inga Kanchaveli  Deputy Chef de Cabinet  P5 
4  Mr. Carl Mercer  Communications, Media, Advocacy & Speechwriting team / Team Leader  P5 
5 

Ms. Asha DeSuza  [1]

 

 Sustainable Development & Financing for Development / Team Leader  P4 
6 

Ms. Maipelo Olga Phale [2]  

 

 Budget and Administration, UN Reform, GA Affairs / Adviser to CdC/CSO & Major Stakeholders Engagement  P3 
7  Ms. Mariam Shaikh [2]  Communications, Media, Advocacy & Speechwriting Team / Adviser  P3 
8  Ms. Yuan Cheng   Administrative Assistant  G5 

[1] Seconded from the Permanent Mission of St Kitts and Nevis from September 2023-February 2024

[2] Funded from the OPGA Trust Fund September-December 2023

Pro Bono Positions 
  Name  Team/Position  Level 
1  Amb. Keisha McGuire  Special Adviser to the President (Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment)  D2 

 

Secondments from UN Departments and other entities 
  Name  Team/Position  Level – Seconded by 
1  Ms. Monica Grayley                 Spokesperson  P4 – DGC 
2  Mr. Richard Arnold  Administrative Assistant  G6 – DGACM 
3  Ms. Tara Khan   Administrative Assistant  G5 – DGACM 
DGACM = Department of General Assembly and Conference Management   DGC = Department of Global Communications 

 

 

 

Secondments from Member States 
  Name  Team / Position  Seconded by 
1  Ms. Husniyya Mammadova     Special Advisor to the PGA (Summit of the Future)  Republic of Azerbaijan 
2  Ms. Devita Abraham  Special Adviser to the PGA  Republic of Trinidad and Tobago 
3  Mr. Ralph Kader Special Adviser to the PGA (Resource mobilization)

Islamic Republic of Mauritania
4  Ms. Madiusca Batista  Political Affairs, Peace, and Security / Adviser  Dominican Republic 
5  Mr. Dia Agmed A. Abubaker AlHutmany   Political Affairs, Peace, and Security / Adviser 

State of Libya 
6 

Ms. Katri Lohmus

 

Political Affairs, Peace, and Security / Senior Adviser

 Estonia
7 

 

Ms. Zsofia Havasi 

 Budget and Administration, UN Reform, GA Affairs /Adviser   Hungary  
8  Mr. Hassan Adam   Budget and Administration, UN Reform, GA Affairs / Senior Adviser, Special Assistant to the PGA   Republic of Maldives 
9  Mr. Naci Yildiz   Budget and Administration, UN Reform, GA Affairs / Adviser  Republic of Türkiye 
10  Ms. Dijana Delaye  Sustainable Development & Financing for Development / Deputy Team Leader  Republic of Croatia 
11 

 

Ms. Sneha Dubey 

 Sustainable Development & Financing for Development / Senior Adviser  India 
12  Ms. Vanessa Tamara Van Dijsseldonk   Sustainable Development & Financing for Development / Senior Adviser   Kingdom of Netherlands 
13 

 

Mr. Jun Jiang  

 Sustainable Development & Financing for Development / Adviser   People’s Republic of China 
14  Mr. Bramantya Dwiputra Widodo   Sustainable Development & Financing for Development / Adviser   Republic of Indonesia 
15  Mr. Waleed Almotaery  Sustainable Development & Financing for Development / Adviser   Saudi Arabia 
16  Ms. Nekwaya Iileka Sustainable Development & Financing for Development / Adviser  Republic of Namibia 
17  Ms. Sim Mellouh  Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs /Senior Adviser  Algeria 
18  Ms. Isabel Avomo Sima  Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs / Adviser  Equatorial Guinea 
19  Ms. Nguyen Hong Nhat Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs / Adviser   Socialist Republic of Vietnam 
20  Ms. Pornrawe Poenateetai   Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs / Adviser Thailand 
21 Ms. Asma Ibrahim Abdullah Al-Muhannadi Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs / Adviser State of Qatar 
22 Mr. Felix Brombach   Communications, Media, Advocacy & Speechwriting / Adviser 
Germany 

 

Positions funded by the OPGA Trust Fund 
  Name  Team/Position  Level 
1  Mr. Peter Stone  Budget and Administration, UN Reform, GA Affairs / Head of Administration, Team Leader   P5 
2  Ms. Éva Schäfer  Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs / Team Leader  P5 
3  Mr. Shojiro Nishimura   Budget and Administration, UN Reform, GA Affairs / Deputy Team Leader   P5 
4  Ms. Katherine Stephan            Communications, Media, Advocacy & Speechwriting / Speechwriter  P3 
5  Mr. Kevin Hunter (September-January)  Administrative Assistant  G5 
6  Ms. Carolina Popovici  Political Affairs, Peace, and Security / Senior Adviser   Level C Consultant 
7  Mr. Steven Philip (to April 2024)                      Communications, Media, Advocacy & Speechwriting / Senior Adviser  Level B Consultant 
8 Ms. Elizabeth de Jonge Communications, Media, Advocacy & Speechwriting /Adviser Level B Consultant 
9  Ms. Iseult McNulty                   Communications, Media, Advocacy & Speechwriting / Speechwriter  Level B Consultant 
10  Mr. Mimrah Ghafoor  Communications, Media, Advocacy & Speechwriting / Speechwriter  Level B Consultant 
11  Mr. Shane Dowling  Political Affairs, Peace, and Security / Deputy Team Leader  Level B Consultant 
12  Ms. Carolina Nazzaro  Communications, Media, Advocacy & Speechwriting / Adviser  Level A Individual Contractor 
13  Ms. Serena Giglio  Communications, Media, Advocacy & Speechwriting / Adviser  Level A Individual Contractor 

 

 

PGA Fellows 
  Name  Position  Nationality 
1  Ms. Brenda Pumarol Medina     Fellow  Dominican Republic 
2  Ms. Maria Collins  Fellow  Kiribati 
3  Mr. Sokniranh Phetrasy  Fellow  Lao People’s Democratic Republic 
4  Ms Florencia Mtingwi   Fellow  Malawi 
5  Mr. Lado Lojong  Fellow  South Sudan 
6  Ms. Andrea Toweka  Fellow  Zimbabwe