United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Guy Ryder of the United Kingdom as Under-Secretary-General for Policy in his Executive Office.  He will succeed Volker Türk of Austria who has been appointed as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Mr. Ryder was most recently Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva after serving two successive terms since October 2012.  He first joined the ILO in 1998 as Director of the Bureau for Workers’ Activities and from 1999, served as Director of the Office of the Director-General. 

Mr. Ryder started his professional career in 1981 as an assistant at the International Department of the Trades Union Congress in London.  From 1985, he held the position of Secretary of the Industry Trade Section of the International Federation of Commercial, Clerical, Professional and Technical Employees (FIET) in Geneva.  In 1988, he became Assistant Director and – from 1993 - Director of the Geneva office of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU).  In 2002, he was appointed General Secretary of the ICFTU and was elected as the first General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) when it was created in 2006.  He returned to the ILO in 2010 as Executive Director, responsible for international labour standards and fundamental principles and rights at work. 

Mr. Ryder studied Social and Political Sciences at the University of Cambridge and Latin American Studies at the University of Liverpool.  He speaks English, French and Spanish.