Secretary-General Appoints Gaurav Ray of Australia as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Bhutan
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Gaurav Ray of Australia as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Bhutan, with the host Government’s approval, effective on 8 November 2025.
Mr. Ray brings over 25 years of experience in humanitarian and development practice, particularly in leadership and technical positions in complex environments, to the position. Most recently, he served as Head of Office and Senior Representative of the German Red Cross in Bangladesh, where he led the country office team in strategic and policy direction, advocated for innovative programmes such as Anticipatory Action and Climate Resilience, built partnerships, oversaw operations management and represented the organization as it worked to support refugees in Cox’s Bazar. He has also worked with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Start Network, the Australian Red Cross, RedR Australia, Emergency Management Australia and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre. His assignments have spanned disaster risk management, emergency response, community resilience, surge capacity and programme development across several missions in Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Thailand.
Mr. Ray has devoted the last two decades of his career to promoting risk-informed, inclusive, sustainable development. His work has involved positioning ideas, convening diverse stakeholders and integrating new domains and themes through diplomacy, sensitisation and negotiation. He brings extensive experience in partnership brokering, inter-agency coordination, systems thinking, and high-level representation in complex settings.
He holds a master’s degree (MBA) in international business from the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand and a master’s degree in management from ESCP-EAP, Oxford, UK. He also has a postgraduate diploma in humanitarian assistance from Fordham University in the United States, a certificate in disaster management from the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre in Thailand and a bachelor’s degree in physics from Fergusson College, University of Pune, India.
