Secretary-General Appoints Kitty van der Heijden of the Netherlands Deputy Executive Director, United Nations Children’s Fund

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Kitty van der Heijden of the Netherlands as Assistant Secretary-General to serve as the Deputy Executive Director, Partnerships, for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).  She will succeed Charlotte Petri Gornitzka of Sweden, to whom the Secretary-General and UNICEF are grateful for her dedicated service.

Ms. van der Heijden has served as the Director-General for International Cooperation in her country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2019.  From 2014 to 2019, she was Vice President and Director for Africa and Europe at the World Resources Institute, a global research organization.  Prior to this role, Ms. van der Heijden was the Ambassador for Sustainable Development and Director for Climate, Energy, Environment and Water in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

From 2006 to 2009, she worked for the United Nations as a Senior Adviser on United Nations Reform in Viet Nam, also representing the Netherlands on development issues at her country’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York.

Ms. van der Heijden holds a master’s degree in economics from Erasmus University in the Netherlands.  She is fluent in dutch and english, with knowledge of french.