Biographical Note

Secretary-General Appoints Jens Wandel of Denmark Assistant Administrator,

 

Director of Bureau of Management, United Nations Development Programme

 

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Jens Wandel of Denmark as Assistant Administrator and Director of the Bureau of Management at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Mr. Wandel will replace Akiko Yuge.  The Secretary-General is grateful to Ms. Yuge for her dedication and commitment to the United Nations during her term as Assistant Administrator and Director of the Bureau of Management at UNDP.

Mr. Wandel has had many years of distinguished service within UNDP.  He has served as Deputy Regional Director, Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), UNDP Bratislava, since August 2008.  Prior to this, Mr. Wandel served in several management functions focusing on change initiatives, including as Director, Centre for Business Solution, as Management Adviser and Project Director for the Work Improvement Tools Project and as a country-level coordinator of UNDP’s New Horizon 2001 change management exercise.

Mr. Wandel has also held various leadership positions at the country level, including as United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, Turkmenistan; UNDP Deputy Resident Representative, Kyrgyzstan; and UNDP Assistant Resident Representative, Viet Nam.  Mr. Wandel began his UNDP career as a junior professional officer in Western Samoa.  Prior to joining UNDP, he served with DANIDA at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Denmark. 

Mr. Wandel brings a combination of substantive programming knowledge and operational expertise covering both UNDP and United Nations agencies.  He has been the architect of a major business re-engineering project for UNDP, and can provide strategic leadership to UNDP’s operations to support the organization’s change agenda.

Mr. Wandel holds a Master of Arts equivalent in political science (development and public management), University of Aarhus, Denmark.

Born in 1962, he is married and has three children.

* *** *

For information media • not an official record