US government official Henrietta Fore appointed UNICEF head

Fore, 69, has worked to champion economic development, education and health, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief for the most vulnerable in the international and developing world.

United Nations, December 23: UN chief Antonio Guterres has appointed former senior US government official Henrietta H Fore as the new executive director of UNICEF, the world body said.

Fore, 69, has worked to champion economic development, education and health, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief for the most vulnerable in the international and developing world.

She was the first woman to be appointed Administrator of the US Agency for International Development and Director of US Foreign Assistance in the Department of State, she held these positions between 2006 and 2009. From 1989 to 1993, she was working as the USAID Assistant Administrator for Asia and for Private Enterprise.

Currently CEO of Holsman International, a manufacturing and investment company, Fore also served as Undersecretary of State for Management, the Chief Operating Officer for the United States Department of State.

In addition, she was a member on the boards of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Millennium Challenge Corporation. Welcoming her appointment as UNICEF head, State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said that Fore will be a "powerful" voice on behalf of the world's children in her new position with the UN. She will succeed Anthony Lake.

"Henrietta Fore will bring a wealth of experience to UNICEF's work for children. I know the organisation will support her as it has worked with me. Her success will be UNICEF’s success — and thus a success for children," said Lake, whose term ends on December 31.

Fore will become the seventh Executive Director on January 1, 2018. The Trump administration has welcomed the UN's decision.

PTI