Biographical Note

Secretary-General Appoints Michael O’Neill of United Kingdom Director of Bureau

of External Relations and Advocacy at United Nations Development Programme

 

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Michael O’Neill of the United Kingdom as Assistant Administrator and Director of the Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 

Mr. O’Neill will replace Sigrid Kaag, who has taken up her new appointment as Special Coordinator of the Joint Mission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the United Nations in October 2013.  The Secretary-General is grateful to Ms. Kaag for her dedication and commitment to the Organization during her term as Assistant Administrator and Director of the Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy at UNDP.

Mr. O’Neill has had many years of distinguished service within the British Foreign Service.  He brings a wealth of strategic, leadership, delivery and communications experience over a diverse 25 year career in international affairs.  Mr. O’Neill is currently serving as Senior Foreign Office Representative to the Gulf Strategy Group in the United Kingdom Cabinet Office.  Prior to this, he served as British Ambassador to Qatar; Head of Mission at the Helmand Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan; United Kingdom Special Representative for Sudan; External Relations Counsellor, United Kingdom Representation to the European Union in Brussels; and Development and Human Rights Counsellor, United Kingdom Mission to the United Nations, New York. 

Other roles held include First Secretary in the British Embassy in Washington, DC, and in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London, and Second Secretary Defence in the United Kingdom Delegation to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels.

Mr. O’Neill holds a Master of Science degree in West European Politics from the London School of Economics, United Kingdom, and a Master of Arts degree in Classics and Modern History from Brasenose College, Oxford University, United Kingdom.

Born in 1965, he is married and has four children.

* *** *

For information media • not an official record