The United Nations Secretary-General announced today the appointment of Ms. Susan Brown of Switzerland as Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator and Director, Bureau for External Relations and Advocacy (BERA) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

A senior advocacy, policy, and communications expert, Ms. Brown comes to UNDP with a strong track record and commitment to the development of good public policy as well as sustainable development advocacy, and financing. Most recently, Ms. Brown was a strategic advisor to various international organizations providing policy, communications, and advocacy support in sustainable development, gender, and public health.  

Between 2016 to 2022, Ms. Brown was Director of Public Policy Engagement at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, a public-private partnership of WHO, UNICEF, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank, civil society, the private sector, and government partners. 

From 2005 to 2016, Ms. Brown worked at WWF International, which is one of the world’s largest conservation organizations, active in more than 100 countries. For the last six years of her tenure, Ms. Brown also served as the Director of Global and Regional Policy and Head of the Policy and External Affairs Cluster, achieving significant outcomes for the organization across multilateral dialogues over all areas of sustainable development. 

Prior to this, Susan worked as a print journalist from 2000-2005, as a senior advisor in the Australian Federal Parliament from 1994 -2000, and Coordinator of the North Queensland Conservation Council from 1993 to 1994. 

Following the announcement, Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator, said, “I am delighted to welcome Ms. Susan Brown to the senior leadership team of UNDP. Her arrival at the helm of UNDP’s external relations bureau comes at a critical moment for global development. Her expertise in communications, advocacy, and partnerships will guide BERA and bring together our valued stakeholders, especially our development partners, civil society, and global institutions as UNDP moves into a new strategic phase, and we near the deadline to reach the SDGs. I look forward to her arrival in New York.” 

In 2016, Ms. Brown received the “Inspirational Women in Geneva Working for the Environment” award by the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions and Geneva Environment Network. 

Ms. Brown succeeds Ms. Ulrika Modéer, who has been recently appointed as Secretary General of Sweden’s Red Cross. “I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to Ulrika Modéer who served six years as ASG and the Director of BERA. Her commitment to UNDP’s work and her leadership of BERA is commendable. I wish her well in her new position as Secretary General of the Swedish Red Cross,” Mr. Steiner said.

Ms. Brown has an Executive master’s degree in environmental governance and policy-making from the Geneva Graduate Institute, and a Bachelor of Social Science in social and environmental assessment and policy from RMIT University in Melbourne.

Ms. Brown is a Swiss national, growing up in Australia before she moved to Switzerland in 2005.