UN Women Announces Senior Management Appointments

United Nations, New York, 24 June 2011 — UN Women announced today the following appointments of senior managers who will support Executive Director Michelle Bachelet and Deputy Directors Lakshmi Puri and John Hendra in leading the organization.

Bureau for Intergovernmental Support and Strategic Partnerships

Kristin Hetle (Norway), Director, Strategic Partnerships, Advocacy, Civil Society, Communications and Resource Mobilization Division
Ms. Hetle brings an extensive experience, which combines service for the UN system, the Norwegian government and the private sector. She is currently serving as the Director of Communications for the Ministry of Labour in Norway. Until 2008, she held the position of Chief of UNFPA's Media Services Branch. Prior to that, Ms. Hetle served as Director of Media Lion Inc., Media Advisor for the Norwegian Red Cross and Information Officer in Norway's Ministry of Environment. She holds an M.A. in Journalism from the Oslo University College.

Moez Doraid (Egypt), Director, Coordination Division
Mr. Doraid brings an extensive experience in the UN system, having held several senior positions in UNDP. He is currently serving as Officer-in-Charge for UN Women's Division of Management and Administration. Since 2006 and until the creation of UN Women, he served as Deputy Executive Director for Organizational and Business Development Services of UNIFEM. Prior to that, Mr. Doraid served as UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Kuwait, UN Humanitarian Coordinator, Resident Coordinator a.i. and UNDP Officer-in-Charge in the Maldives, and Senior Programme Advisor in UNDP's Regional Bureau for the Arab States. Mr. Doraid holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. degree in Economics.

Bureau for Policy and Programme Support

Saraswathi Menon (India), Director, Policy Division
Ms. Menon brings an extensive experience as a researcher and academician as well as in the UN system. She is currently serving as the Director of UNDP's Evaluation Office. Ms. Menon's career includes experience in both policy and programme areas. She served as UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Mongolia, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Nepal and Deputy Chief of the Regional Programme and Policy Division in UNDP's Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific. Before joining UNDP, she lectured in sociology at Madras University in India. She holds both an M.A. and M.Phil. degree in Sociology as well as a Ph.D. degree.

Gülden Türköz-Cosslett (Turkey), Director, Programme Support Division
Ms. Türköz-Cosslett brings extensive programmatic experience, having worked for UNDP both at headquarters and in the field. She is currently serving as Senior Advisor on System-Wide Coherence and Head of the UN Women Transition Team in UN Women, on special assignment from UNDP. She has worked as UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Albania, as Team Leader in the Central Asia Cluster of UNDP's Regional Bureau for Europe and as Programme Specialist in the Office of the UNDP Administrator. Ms. Türköz-Cosslett has an M.A. degree in International Affairs.

Division of Management and Administration

Giovanie Biha (Burundi), Director, Management and Administration Division
Ms. Biha brings an extensive experience, which combines programmatic and operations experience in the UN system and the private sector. She is currently serving as Chief of Strategy and Corporate Performance Management in UNDP's Office of Planning and Budgeting. Ms. Biha has worked as Deputy Resident Representative for both Programme and Operations in UNDP-Mauritania, as Senior Programme Manager and Deputy Resident Representative a.i. in UNDP-Ethiopia and as Assistant Resident Representative in Guinea-Bissau. Prior to these positions in UNDP, Ms. Biha worked for the Central Bank of Burundi. She holds an M.A. degree in Economics.

Bibiana Aído Almagro (Spain), Special Advisor to the Executive Director
Ms. Aído brings a distinguished public service career for the Government of Spain. She is currently serving as Secretary of State of Equality. Ms Aído created the Ministry of Equality and up to 2010 was Minister of Equality and worked extensively for gender mainstreaming in the Spanish development policy as well as on gender equality and gender mainstreaming in various high-level international fora, such as the European Union for the promotion of the European strategy and the European observatory against gender violence.