Biographical Note

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS JUDY CHENG-HOPKINS OF MALAYSIA

 

AS ASSISTANT SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR PEACEBUILDING SUPPORT

 

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Judy Cheng-Hopkins of Malaysia as Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support.  Ms. Cheng-Hopkins will replace Jane Holl Lute.  The Secretary-General is grateful for Ms. Holl Lute’s exemplary service with the Organization since 2003.

The Peacebuilding Support Office was set up in 2006 to support the newly established Peacebuilding Commission in the objective to help countries coming out of conflict achieve sustainable peace.  With over 30 years experience in key United Nations organizations working on humanitarian, post-conflict, peacebuilding and development issues, Ms. Cheng-Hopkins is particularly well-positioned to move the Secretary-General’s peacebuilding agenda forward.  She also brings the necessary blend of managerial acumen and energetic leadership required.

Ms. Cheng-Hopkins was until recently the Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees in charge of Operations (2006-2009) in over 118 countries around the world, including the voluntary return and reintegration of refugees and internally displaced persons.

Previously she served with the World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in several senior and progressively responsible roles, notably as Director of the Bureau for Asia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)/Balkans in WFP (1997-2000) and as Deputy Assistant Administrator of the Africa Bureau in UNDP (2002-2004).  Prior to that she spent a decade in Africa with UNDP in Zambia (1982-1988) and Kenya (1988-1992).  She also served as Deputy Executive Secretary, United Nations Capital Development Fund (1993-1997).

Ms. Cheng-Hopkins received a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Beloit College in the United States (1976), and a master's degree in economic development from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (1978).  She has also received diplomas from l’Université d’Haute Bretagne in France and Harvard University.

She was born in 1951 and is married, with two daughters.

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