Biographical Note

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS MAXWELL GAYLARD OF AUSTRALIA DEPUTY SPECIAL

COORDINATOR FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS

 

The Secretary-General announced today the appointment of Maxwell Gaylard as Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, at the level of Assistant Secretary-General.  In this capacity, Mr. Gaylard will also serve as United Nations coordinator for humanitarian and development activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Mr. Gaylard has been acting as Deputy Special Coordinator since November last year.  (See Press Release SG/A/1106)  He previously served as Director of the United Nations Mine Action Service, and before that spent significant periods of time as a senior United Nations humanitarian and coordination official in Somalia, Sudan and northern Iraq.  In these capacities, he served in some of the most challenging field stations for the United Nations and gained relevant expertise in coordinating the United Nations country team’s response to pressing humanitarian and developmental needs.

An Australian national, Mr. Gaylard began his career with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and also served with the Commonwealth Secretariat before he joined the United Nations.  Mr. Gaylard was born in 1946 in Nambour, Queensland, where he received his primary and secondary schooling, and is a graduate of the University of Queensland and the Australian National University.  Mr. Gaylard also served with the Australian military forces from 1968 to 1970.

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