UN SecretaryGeneral António Guterres announced connected Friday, that Catherine M. Russell of the United States volition go the adjacent Executive Director of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). 

She volition win Henrietta H. Fore, who said she was “delighted to manus implicit to idiosyncratic with her knowledge, experience, and heavy attraction for children and women”. 

“Ms. Russell brings to the relation decades of acquisition successful processing innovative argumentation that empowers underserved communities astir the world; delivering high-impact programmes that support women and girls, including successful humanitarian crises; building, elevating, and managing divers workforces; and mobilizing resources and governmental enactment for a wide scope of initiatives”, Mr. Guterres said successful a statement. 

At the aforesaid time, Rytis Paulauskas, President of the UNICEF Executive Board, warmly welcomed Ms. Russell, assuring the “she has the afloat support” of the Board to transportation retired the captious enactment role. 

Wide-ranging experience 

Ms. Russell is presently the Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel. 

From 2013 to 2017, she served  arsenic Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues astatine the US State Department. There she integrated women’s issues crossed each elements of US overseas argumentation and was the main designer of the ground-breaking “US Global Strategy to Empower Adolescent Girls”. 

Before that, Ms. Russell served arsenic Deputy Assistant to the President Obama, Senior Adviser connected International Women’s Issues connected the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Associate Deputy Attorney General astatine the Department of Justice, and Staff Director of the Senate Judiciary Committee.  

She besides taught astatine the Harvard Kennedy School arsenic an Institute of Politics Fellow. 

Previously, she served arsenic the committee co-chair of the Women’s Foreign Policy Group, arsenic a committee subordinate of Women for Women International, arsenic a subordinate of the Sesame Street Advisory Board, the non-profit enactment KIVA advisory council, and the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s Trust Women initiative. 

Ms. Russell holds a Bachelor of Arts successful Philosophy, magna cum laude, from Boston College and a Juris Doctor grade from the George Washington University Law School. 

Fore's 'inspiring leadership' 

The SecretaryGeneral also expressed his gratitude for outgoing UNICEF main Fore “for her committedness and dedicated work to the Organization”.  

Ms. Fore tendered her resignation successful July, successful bid to instrumentality attraction of her hubby afloat time, saying the helium is suffering from a superior wellness issue. 

Mr. Guterres acknowledged with appreciation Ms. Fore's “inspiring enactment of UNICEF and successful particular, UNICEF’s captious relation successful the planetary effect to the COVID-19 pandemic and successful reimagining education”.  

“As a effect of her leadership, UNICEF is present an enactment with a broader array of nationalist and backstage assemblage partnerships and a bolder absorption connected achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”, helium stated. 

UNICEF remaining “in susceptible hands”  

Before deciding to measurement down, Ms. Fore said it had been “a hard decision” and described holding the bureau of Executive Director arsenic “a tremendous honour”. 

In afloat enactment of Ms. Russell's selection, she said, “I person nary uncertainty that UNICEF and the world’s children volition beryllium successful susceptible hands nether her leadership”.