Maher Nasser has over 37 years of work experience in the United Nations System during which he has worked in Amman, Cairo, Dubai, Gaza, New York and Vienna. As the Director of Outreach in the United Nations Department of Global Communications, Maher leads the Department’s engagement with academia, advertising industry, civil society, creative community, libraries, sports and football. The Outreach Division that he leads manages public engagement through UN Publications, visitor services, exhibits and guided tours at the UN HQ in New York as well as key observances on select and high-profile mandates from the United Nations General Assembly such as the Outreach Programmes on the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery and the Holocaust.
In addition to serving three times as Acting Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications since 2012, Mr. Nasser led the successful United Nations presence at Expo 2020 in Dubai as Commissioner-General of the United Nations at Expo 2020. In February 2024, United Nations Secretary-General designated Mr. Nasser as the Commissioner-General of the United Nations at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Kansai, Japan.
Maher graduated with B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from Birzeit University in Palestine in 1986 and obtained a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration from Warwick University in the United Kingdom in 2004. For a life and work dedicated to and advocacy for human rights and sustainability, Maher was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by De Montfort University in the United Kingdom in 2024.
Maher Nasser is an avid reader who enjoys cooking and is a reluctant runner, who managed to complete the New York City Marathon three times in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Maher is married to Jenny with three grown children, Yazan, Zein and Razan.