New York - Ms. Asako Okai officially began her role today as UNDP’s Assistant Administrator and Director for the Crisis Bureau. In this role, she will lead UNDP’s corporate crisis-related work and drive UNDP’s vision and priorities for crisis prevention, response, and recovery.

“Fragility and crisis are among the most significant obstacles to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals,” said UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner. “Building on its previous work, UNDP has a unique opportunity to strengthen its interventions in crisis and fragile settings to address root causes, development deficits, and reduce vulnerabilities that bring together humanitarian, development and peacebuilding efforts in the context of the UN’s new way of working.   This is a critical time to lead our crisis work and I warmly welcome Ms. Okai to her new role.”

Ms. Okai’s role will be at the Assistant Secretary-General level.

“I am honored and excited for this opportunity to lead the Crisis Bureau at such an important moment in time, when development actors must strengthen their interventions in fragile contexts and across silos to durably address development deficits and reduce vulnerabilities,” said Asako. “I look forward to working with the talented and steadfast colleagues within UNDP and across agencies to support the countries we serve towards improving preparedness, crisis response capacities, and resilience.”

Ms. Okai succeeds Izumi Nakamitsu who now leads as Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. The Administrator is grateful to Izumi Nakamitsu for her leadership, and to Bruno Lemarquis for his leadership during this transition.

Ms. Okai has over 30 years of service with the United Nations and in the Japanese Foreign Service. She has also served in the Permanent Mission of Japan to the UN and as a Senior Member of the Office of the President of the 66th UN General Assembly - and most recently served as Consul-General of Japan in Vancouver, Canada.