Secretary-General Appoints Robert Piper of Australia Assistant Secretary-General, Head of Transition Team for Repositioning of United Nations Development System

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Robert Piper of Australia as the Head of the United Nations Development System Transition Team, established to provide strategic leadership and oversight to all aspects of the repositioning of the United Nations development system.

Under the oversight of the Deputy Secretary-General, the Transition Team will be guided by the provisions of General Assembly resolution 72/279, endorsed by Member States on 31 May.  The resolution has ushered in the most ambitious and comprehensive transformation of the United Nations development system in decades, which will require dedicated capacities to implement a package of reforms that call for significant changes to the set-up, leadership, accountability mechanisms and capacities of the whole United Nations development system, to ensure it meets national needs for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.  The Transition Team will operate under a broader reform coordination structure.

Currently serving as the Officer-in-Charge of the Bureau of External Relations at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Mr. Piper brings to the role nearly 30 years of experience in international development and peacebuilding at the United Nations, as well as a strong track record in management, reform and coordination.  He has served across several regions as resident and humanitarian coordinator and as resident representative for UNDP.

Mr. Piper holds an honours degree in political science from the Australian National University and a certificate in French language and literature from the Sorbonne University.  He was selected in 2004 as a World Fellow at Yale University.

Born in 1966, he is married and has four children.

__________

*     This supersedes Press Release SG/A/1566-BIO/4720 of 4 May 2015.