UNITAR

Mr. Chibuike Amaechi is Minister of Transportation of the Republic of Nigeria under the Muhammadu Buhari administration. He has been an active politician in Nigeria for more than three decades, serving as Governor of the Rivers State (2007-2014) and holding a number of government positions in different offices, including the Nigeria National Congress, where he was State Secretary for Administrative Affairs, and the Democratic Party of Nigeria, where he was State Secretary of the Supreme Committee of the Party. He was also the pioneer Chairman of the Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria for two terms. As Governor of the Rivers State, Mr. Amaechi worked to reduce poverty by a significant percentage, almost doubled social spending and with a special focus on health and education, and increased public investment in capacity building for young scholars.

Ms. Diana Chavez is the Executive Director of the Private Sector Regional Centre for the Support of UN Sustainable Development Goals, which is based in Bogota, Colombia. Ms- Chavez provides the Centre with strategic direction, leadership, partnership building and vision on strengthening the implementation of sustainable development and the 2030 Agenda in Latin America. In this capacity she works with leading multinational companies advancing the agenda of corporate governance and sustainability.

Prior to this, she was the Executive Director of the Regional Center for the Global Compact in Latin America and the Caribbean and before she was the Global Compact Country Coordinator for Mexico.  Ms. Chavez also served in the Mexican Ministry of Economy in promoting Foreign Investment. She holds a number of distinctions and sits on various advisory bodies and boards and was the first woman to chair the UN Business and Human Rights Forum.  She holds graduate level degrees in international studies and business administration.

Dr. Sarah Cook is Director of UNICEF’s Office of Research, Innocenti. Prior to taking up this assignment in June 2015, Ms. Cook was Director of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) since 2009. She was previously a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex and has also worked for the Ford Foundation in China. Ms. Cook received her Ph.D. in Public Policy from Harvard University and a M.Sc. in Social Policy in Developing Countries from the London School of Economics. Her research has focused in particular on China's social and economic transformations, including work on labour markets and employment, gender, poverty and inequality and social welfare reforms. Recent projects have included a long-term study on social protection in Asia, research on migration and health in China and work on the implications of China’s rise for international development. Current interests include new directions in social policy being taken by emerging and developing countries in the context of financial, social and environmental crisis

Ambassador Gennady Gatilov is Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations Office and Other International Organizations in Geneva, and Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the Conference on Disarmament. Prior to this appointment in January 2018, Ambassador Gatilov was Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2011, and earlier, Director of the Department of International Organizations (2008-2011) and Senior Advisor with the Executive Office of the Secretary-General (2004-2008). During the span of his distinguished career, Ambassador Gatilov has had various other senior positions and diplomatic postings. He was awarded the Order of Honour and the Order of Friendship. He is a graduate of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. He is married with a daughter.

Ambassador Hakala was appointed Permanent Representative of Finland to the United Nations Office, WTO and other international organizations in Geneva in September 2016. Prior to that, she served as Director-General of the Department of Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland since 2012. From 2009 to 2011, she served as Ambassador of Finland to India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Nepal. From 2007 to 2009, she was Head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to Georgia, Tbilisi, and from 2004 to 2007, she was the roving Ambassador to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

A career diplomat, Ms. Hakala, has also served as Director of the Unit for Eastern Europe and Central Asia at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs from 2001 to 2004; Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Finland in Moscow from 1998 to 2000; Deputy Consul General at the Consulate General of Finland in St. Petersburg from 1996 to 1998; and Finnish Co-Chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Minsk Conference on Nagorno-Karabakh from 1995 to 1996, among others. She has a Master of Arts from Åbo Akademi, Finland.

Ambassador Nazhat Shameem Khan is Permanent Representative of the Republic of Fiji to the United Nations in Geneva. Ambassador Khan was born in Fiji in 1960 and attended school there. She went to university in the United Kingdom, at Sussex University and Cambridge University, where she studied law. She was admitted to the Bar of England and Wales at the Inner Temple in London in 1983, and to the High Court in Fiji as a barrister and solicitor in 1984. She holds a Master of Philosophy degree in Criminology from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

Ms. Khan worked for 16 years as a prosecutor in Fiji, and during that time was appointed Director of Public Prosecutions of Fiji in 1994. In 1999, she was appointed Fiji’s first woman High Court judge. She was a judge mainly in the criminal division of the High Court, where she with the three other criminal High Court judges developed Fiji’s sentencing guidelines principles, based on the English Court of Appeal developed sentencing principles. This approach was later passed as legislation in Fiji in 2009.

In 2009, Ms. Khan became a private practitioner, engaged principally in training lawyers and judges on human rights law, sentencing law, governance and litigation skills. She was appointed Permanent Representative to Geneva in 2014 when Fiji opened a Mission in Geneva for the first time, and only 5 months before Fiji’s second cycle Universal Periodic Review was due at the Human Rights Council. She continues to conduct training for judges in Fiji on human rights, sentencing, and criminal justice.

Dr. Deisi Kusztra is the President of the World Family Organization. Since assuming this position in 1997, she represents the Organization at the United Nations, governments and inter-governmental organizations level. She directs the work of the Organization through its regional structures and national committees, and assists governments in preparing strategic frameworks and plans of action to implement family-focused policies, programs, projects and services at national, regional and local levels, specially in health, education, housing, social promotion, family mediation, microcredit, among others.

In partnership with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs – NGO Section, she is implementing the Informal Regional Network in Latin America, preparing NGOs to establish partnerships with Governments and the Private Sector, strengthening their capacity to network and respond to the challenges of development.

She has received many national and international awards and prizes, in recognition of her dedication and her work towards the promotion of family policies throughout the world. Dr. Deisi Kusztra was born on August 09, 1951, in Curitiba, Brazil. Dr. Kusztra has worked in Africa, Europe, Middle East and North America and is now based in South America, from where she networks with the world on Family Issues.

Mr. Vijay Nambiar is a former Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on Myanmar (2012-2016). He served as Chef de Cabinet to the Secretary-General at the rank of Under-Secretary-General from 2007-2012. Earlier in 2006, Mr. Nambiar served as Special Adviser to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Prior to joining the United Nations, Mr. Nambiar served as Deputy National Security Adviser to the Government of India and Head of the National Security Council Secretariat. He was India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York (May 2002-June 2004). Earlier he served as Ambassador of India, in Pakistan (2000-2001), China (1996-2000), Malaysia (1993-1996), and Afghanistan (1990-1992). He was also earlier Ambassador of India in Algeria (1985-1988).

Mr. Nambiar joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1967 and spent his early years specializing in the Chinese language. During his professional career in the Indian Foreign Service, he served in numerous bilateral and multilateral appointments during the 1970s and 1980s in Hong Kong, Beijing, Belgrade and New York. Mr. Nambiar has a post graduate degree from Bombay University where he was awarded the Chancellor’s Gold Medal in 1965. He is married and has two daughters and a grandson.

Ambassador Per Örnéus is Deputy Director-General and Head of the Department for Multilateral Development Cooperation of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Sweden. The Department coordinates the Government’s support to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sweden’s participation in the process to develop the new global development agenda, post-2015. Mr. Örnéus represents Sweden as Chair of Advisory Commission of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. He is also Alternate Governor for Sweden to the African, Asian and Inter-American Development Banks.

Before assuming his current position in 2010, Mr. Örnéus spent two years as Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative at the Permanent Mission of Sweden to the United Nations. From 2003 to 2008 he was the Head of Section for Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Issues at the Department for Security Policy at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. In 2004-2005 he chaired the OCHA Donor Support Group, and in 2006-2007 the ICRC Donor Support Group. Prior to this held the position of Deputy at the Embassy of Sweden to Latvia.

Besides various missions with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Örnéus has worked as an Aid Coordinator with the Swedish International Development Agency, and as a Management Consultant for Swedish Management Group and the Swedish Employer’s Federation. Mr. Per Örnéus was born in Stockholm in 1962, is married, and has two daughters.

Professor Osa Yukie is with the Graduate School of Social Design Studies of the Department of Sociology at Rikkyo University and President of the Association for Aid and Relief (AAR), Japan. She is also a member of the Japanese National Commission for UNESCO and a Member of the Advisory Group of the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).

She is well known in development circles inside and outside of Japan and has worked in AAR’s emergency assistance operations and programmes in a number of countries, including Afghanistan, Cambodia, Former Yugoslavia and Mozambique, and represented AAR on the Coordination Committee of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Professor Osa has lectured at various other academic institutions, including the University of Tokyo, Waseda University and Aoyama Gakuin University. She is the author of various publications.

Dr. Patti P. Phillips is president and CEO of ROI Institute, Inc., the leader in measurement, evaluation, and the use of ROI in human resources, training and development, and performance improvement. Clients include for-profit, not-for-profit, nongovernmental, and inter-governmental organizations in over 60 countries. Through delivery of training programs, consulting services, research, and publications, ROI Institute helps organizations develop capacity in monitoring and evaluation.

In 2014, Dr. Phillips joined The Conference Board as Principal Research Fellow to support research in human capital analytics. In 2015, the Association for Talent Development (ATD) selected her as a Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP) Fellow for her contribution to the learning and development field and the CPLP certification. Since 2015, Dr. Phillips has been serving as board chair of the Center for Talent Reporting. In 2017, she began serving as chair of the Institute for Corporate Productivity’s (i4cp) People Analytics Board. In this capacity, she works with leaders of the people analytics function for major corporations as they use analytics to drive strategic business decisions.

Dr. Phillips holds a Ph.D. in International Development from The University of Southern Mississippi; a master’s degree in Public and Private Management from Birmingham-Southern College; and a bachelor’s degree in Education from Auburn University. She serves on the faculty of the UN System Staff College and The University of Southern Mississippi. She has authored and co-authored with her husband, Dr. Jack J. Phillips, over 50 books on the topics of assessment, measurement, and evaluation.

Ambassador Valentin Zellweger is Head of the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations Office and to the other international organizations in Geneva. Until the summer of 2016, he was the head of the Directorate of International Law and Legal Advisor of the Swiss foreign Ministry.

Ambassador Zellweger served as a diplomat in Kenya and as legal advisor to the Swiss Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York. He was representative of Switzerland in different treaty negotiations and a member of the Swiss delegation to the Rome Conference on the establishment of the International Criminal Court.