New senior appointments announced for UN agencies

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed several senior officials to the United Nations agencies spearheading efforts on the development and population fronts.

Kate Gilmore of Australia has been appointed as one of the two Deputy Executive Directors of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), succeeding Purnima Mane.

Gilmore brings to the agency more than 20 years of strategic leadership experience working on social issues in the government and not-for-profit sectors in her country.

Sima Sami Bahous will replace Amat Alsoswa as Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States at the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

The Jordanian national was most recently the UN Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the Social Development Sector at the League of Arab States.

Also, Jens Wandel of Denmark has been appointed as UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director of the Bureau of Management, replacing Akiko Yuge. Wandel has had many years of distinguished service with UNDP, both at the regional and country level.

Meanwhile, fellow UNDP veteran Ayse Cihan Sultanogu of Turkey has been appointed as Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States at the agency. She will replace Kori Udovicki.