BIO/3226

MARK MALLOCH BROWN APPOINTED ADMINISTRATOR OF UN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

23 April 1999


Press Release
BIO/3226
DEV/2202


MARK MALLOCH BROWN APPOINTED ADMINISTRATOR OF UN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

19990423 Biographical Note Mark Malloch Brown was confirmed today by the General Assembly as the next Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), following his appointment by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to a four-year term beginning 1 July. Mr. Malloch Brown will replace James Gustave Speth, who was appointed Administrator in 1993 and who has announced his resignation.

Since January 1996, Mr. Malloch Brown has been the Vice-President for External Affairs of the World Bank. In February of that year he also assumed the post of Vice-President for United Nations Affairs. He joined the World Bank in 1994 as the Director of External Affairs.

Prior to joining the World Bank, Mr. Malloch Brown was a partner in the communications management firm, The Sawyer Miller Group, where he led its international practice. During his tenure at Sawyer Miller, he implemented competitive communications strategies for corporations, governments and political candidates. He advised President Corazon Aquino of the Philippines when she ran against Ferdinand Marcos, as well as many other presidential candidates, particularly in Latin America. Other political campaigns included the "No" referendum in Chile and strategic advice on privatization in Eastern Europe and Russia.

Mr. Malloch Brown founded The Economist Development Report, a monthly report on the aid community and political economy of development for The Economist, and served as the report's editor from 1983 to 1986. From 1979 to 1983, he worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). From 1979 to 1981, he was stationed in Thailand, where he was in charge of field operations for Cambodian refugees. In 1981, he was appointed Deputy Chief of the Emergency Unit in Geneva, undertaking extensive missions in the Horn of Africa and Central America, as well as developing procedures for dealing with crises of mass influx. In 1981, the UNHCR and its staff were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Active in human rights and refugee issues, Mr. Malloch Brown served as Vice-Chairman of the Board of Refugees International in Washington, D.C. and as a member of the Soros Advisory Committee on Bosnia from 1993 to 1994. He has also written and broadcast extensively about these matters.

A British citizen, Mr. Malloch Brown was educated at Cambridge University, where he received a First Class Honor's Degree in History from Magdalene College, and at the University of Michigan, where he received a Master's degree in political science.

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