By NAN Staff Writer
News Americas, UNITED NATIONS, NY, Thurs. Dec. 3, 2015: A Caribbean-born national has been named as the new under-secretary-general for General Assembly and Conference Management, the largest department at the United Nations.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently announced the appointment of Catherine Pollard of Guyana as the new under-secretary-general. She succeeds Tegegnework Gettu of Ethiopia in the post.
The General Assembly and Conference Management department is central to the mandate and functioning of the United Nations and its mission is to enhance dialogue and cooperation among Member States. It is made up of about 1,200 staff at United Nations Headquarters in New York and 2,000 worldwide and includes committee secretaries and research clerks, meeting planners and protocol officers, translators and verbatim reporters, interpreters and editors, graphic designers and printers, conference officers and administrators among others.
Pollard, 55, has served as Assistant Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management since 2014. Prior to that, she was assistant secretary-general for Human Resources Management from 2008 to 2014.
She brings a proven track record of valuable experience in General Assembly and Conference Management matters, financial, human resource and general administrative management. During her 26 years with the United Nations, she acquired a solid foundation of the United Nations culture, organizational and operational structures, global initiatives and reform efforts in accordance with the Secretary-General’s priorities and strategies. In each of her assignments at senior levels, she has helped to effect real improvements in management practices, moving away from the status quo.
Pollard was previously chief of staff in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, and before that, the director of the Peacekeeping Finance Division in the Office of Programme Planning, Budget and Accounts. Her career in the United Nations began in 1989 when she worked with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as the Chief of National Execution Projects. In 1993, she joined the Department for Peacekeeping Operations, and then worked as Chief Budget Officer for the United Nations Operations in Yugoslavia and Central Headquarters. Thereafter, she served as Chief of the Budget and Finance Section of the United Nations Volunteers.
Pollard holds a master’s in accounting from the University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica.
