Secretary-General appoints Brian Williams of the United States as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Kyrgyzstan

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Brian Williams of the United States as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Kyrgyzstan, with the host Government’s approval. He takes up his post on 1 October.

Mr. Williams brings more than 30 years of experience in international development, peacebuilding, public health, humanitarian work and development coordination. He most recently served as Chief of the Peacebuilding Fund in the United Nations Peacebuilding Support Office within the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA), managing the Secretary-General's Peacebuilding Fund. He took up this role after his assignment as Chief of Policy and Programming ad interim in the United Nations Development Coordination Office (DCO). Before that, from 2015 to 2020, he served as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Albania, after leading the Peacebuilding Fund from 2010 to 2015, where he oversaw financing initiatives to support peacebuilding and conflict prevention in countries emerging from conflict. From 2001 to 2008, he worked on the global HIV response, serving as Country Coordinator of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in Myanmar and in positions at UNAIDS headquarters in Geneva. Since 1990, he has worked on humanitarian assistance, governance, rule of law, recovery and peacebuilding in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi and Rwanda.

Prior to joining the United Nations, Mr. Williams worked with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), CARE International and the International Rescue Committee.

Mr. Williams holds a master’s degree in development studies from Princeton University and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Harvard University, both in the USA.

He is married and has two children.