Secretary-General Appoints Jens Wandel of Denmark Special Adviser to Secretary-General on Reforms

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Jens Wandel of Denmark as Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Reforms.

The Secretary-General has decided to establish a reform coordination structure under the joint leadership of the Deputy Secretary-General and the Chef de Cabinet to ensure a unified and cohesive change management programme across all three reforms, with dedicated teams to service each individual stream.

The transition team will be headed by the Special Adviser on Reforms to ensure the overall coordination of the three reform streams (sustainable development, peace and security, and management).

Mr. Wandel has had many years of distinguished service within the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).  He served as Assistant Administrator (Assistant Secretary-General), Director of the Bureau of Management from 2012 to 2017.  Mr. Wandel has also served in several management functions focusing on change initiatives, including as Director of the Centre for Business Solutions, 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 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 will provide strategic leadership to support the organization’s change agenda.

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

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

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*     This supersedes Press Release SG/A/1325-BIO/4358-DEV/2934 of 22 February 2012.