UN Geneva Senior Management Team
Kira Kruglikova
Director, Division of Administration of the United Nations Office at Geneva
Ms. Kira Kruglikova, a national of the United States, is the Director of the Division of Administration. She serves as UNOG’s Focal Point for Multilingualism, as well as its Focal Point for Disability Inclusion. She has worked for the United Nations since 2007. Her previous positions include Director of the Division of Conference Management, Chief of the Production and Support Service, Executive Officer and Administrative Officer.
Before joining the United Nations, she was a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State. Ms. Kruglikova served in Tallinn, Geneva, St. Petersburg, New Delhi, Frankfurt and Stuttgart, as well as in Washington, D.C. Prior to her diplomatic service, she worked in manufacturing for a major pharmaceutical company in various locations in the United States.
Ms. Kruglikova holds a degree in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and two Master’s degrees (inorganic chemistry and business administration) from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Born in 1964, Ms. Kruglikova is married and has two children. A native English speaker, she also speaks French, Russian and German.
Carolyne Mélanie Régimbal
Chief of Service of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs’ Geneva Office
In May 2022, Ms. Carolyne-Mélanie Régimbal, Canadian, assumed her functions as Chief of Service of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs’ Geneva Office. She will also serve as Deputy Secretary General to the Conference on Disarmament.
Ms. Régimbal has 25 years of multilateral disarmament, peace and security experience. Ms. Régimbal served as Director of the UN Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC) in Lima (Peru). She also worked for the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia, where she served as Head of Field Coordination contributing to the Colombian Peace Process. Prior to joining the United Nations, Ms. Régimbal worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Canada. She was also a founding member of the Canadian Mine Action Team in Ottawa and continued to work on Human Security, Disarmament and Non-Proliferation matters at the Permanent Mission of Canada to the Organization of American States (OAS) as an Alternate Representative in Washington DC.
Ms. Régimbal, has a Bachelor of Arts in Canadian Studies and a Masters in International Service, is fluent in French, English and Spanish.
She is married and has two children.
Marie Diur
Officer-In-Charge of the Division of Conference Management
Marie Diur joined the United Nations Office at Geneva as Chief of the Interpretation Service in December 2017, after nearly ten years at the United Nations Office at Vienna, initially as Chief of the French Booth and then as Chief Interpreter. Marie’s thirty year career in interpretation spans over twelve years’ freelance work for UN agencies, the European Union, and the private market up until 2001 when she joined UN Headquarters as a Staff Interpreter.
Ms. Diur has been an AIIC member since 1992, and a visiting examiner in interpretation schools in France and Belgium (ESIT; ISIT, ISTI; EII; LSTI/Marie-Haps). Her language portfolio comprises French (A), English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Swedish (C) and is complemented by a Maîtrise en langues étrangères appliquées (Université Toulouse-le-Mirail), a DEA en littérature française, francophone et comparée (Université Bordeaux 3), a Post-graduate Diploma in Conference Interpretation (PCL-London) and a Ph.D. in Humanities (Universidad Pablo de Olavide-Sevilla).
An ardent advocate of education and development, Ms. Diur chairs the IAMLADP Taskforce on Interpreting Issues and is the UNOG Outreach Focal Point for Interpretation. Ms. Diur also serves as Chair of the Working Group on Addressing Racism in the Workplace and as UN Geneva’s focal point for diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism.
David John McCuaig
Project Director, Strategic Heritage Plan
Mr. David John McCuaig leads the Strategic Heritage Plan for the United Nations in Geneva.
Previously, Mr. McCuaig was Director of Operations at Canada’s National Arts Centre (NAC) and Project Director for the NAC Architectural Rejuvenation. Prior to joining the NAC in 2011, Mr. McCuaig was Regional Director for Defence Construction Canada for 10 years. In that capacity, he led a team of over 200 professionals providing infrastructure-related services to the Canadian Forces and the Department of National Defence. He oversaw a $60M annual construction program in the National Capital Region, the Canadian Arctic, and overseas. He proudly supported deployed Canadian Forces with construction engineering, procurement, and logistical support in Bosnia, Afghanistan, and other locations around the world.
As Project Manager from 1990 to 2001, Mr. McCuaig managed capital projects and improvements to a wide range of building types, facilities, and properties. He began his career in 1985 as an architectural designer and part-owner of a construction company, operating mostly in the United States. Mr. McCuaig has been active in academia as a Lecturer in the Masters in Project Management (MPM) Program at l’Université du Québec, as well as a part-time Professor at la Cité Collégiale in Ottawa, Canada. He has lectured on construction management, Critical Path and Logical Framework methodologies, project development, managing troubled projects, and infrastructure feasibility studies. Mr. McCuaig earned a master’s degree in Project Management from l’Université du Québec, is a graduate of the Executive Program at the Queens University School of Business in Kingston, Ontario, and the Canadian Department of National Defence Resource Management Program. He has been certified a Gold Seal Project Manager by the Canadian Construction Association and granted the designation of Project Management Professional by the Project Management Institute.
Born in 1958, Mr. McCuaig is a Canadian national and fluently bilingual in English and French.
David A. Chikvaidze
Chef de Cabinet, Office of the Director-General
Mr. David A. Chikvaidze has worked for over thirty-six years in the foreign service, in government and in the international civil service, twenty-eight of these at the United Nations.
He provides political advice and support to his fifth Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) as Chef de Cabinet and, before, as acting Senior Political Adviser. As Director of the UN Library and Head of the UNOG Cultural Diplomacy programme, Chikvaidze implemented a new strategic direction, created synergies with world libraries, raised the Library’s profile and its effectiveness for clients and developed new forms of cultural, intellectual, educational and academic outreach. He was Senior Adviser to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in charge of Communications and NGO relations and spokesman for the Commission on Human Rights and other Human Rights Bodies.
At UN Headquarters and on field missions in 1993-2003, D. Chikvaidze performed a variety of politically sensitive duties: negotiating humanitarian aid in Pyongyang with the DPRK government; assisting Sergio Vieira de Mello in negotiating with Yugoslav authorities humanitarian needs and access in FRY, including Kosovo; assisting James A. Baker III on his confidential missions to Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania on the Western Sahara issue; post-earthquake disaster assessment and coordination in Tajikistan and Afghanistan; post-conflict needs assessment in Azerbaijan in 1994; three visits to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and to contaminated areas in efforts to assist victims; organizing the UN50 commemorative events in New York and San Francisco; etc.
Prior to joining the United Nations, Chikvaidze served as scheduler for President Gorbachev and as protocol officer for President Yeltsin. A diplomat by training, he was special assistant to the Soviet Ambassador and chief of protocol of the USSR Embassy in Washington, D.C. (1985-1990).
D. Chikvaidze holds a Ph.D. in political science, is author of occasional articles on international relations and has taught geopolitics and served as thesis advisor. He is vice president of the Swiss Forum for International Affairs and of the Geneva Diplomatic Club; Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science, founding member of the Georgian Association of Switzerland and of the Sergio Vieira de Mello Foundation.
Fluent in English, French, Russian, mother tongue Georgian.
Born in Tbilisi, Chikvaidze is a citizen of Georgia. He is married and has one son and three grandsons.
Sergey A. Shaposhnikov
Chief of Protocol, Office of the Director-General
Mr. Sergey Shaposhnikov is Chief of Protocol in the Office of the Director General, United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) since 2006.
Before that, he was Special Assistant to the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG), Political Affairs Officer. Prior to joining the UN Secretariat, he was a civil servant in Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, serving as Associate Attaché, ECOSOC Section, Department of International Economic Organizations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, Moscow; Attaché, Third Secretary of the Permanent Mission of the USSR and the Russian Federation to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva, Chief of Protocol of the Mission, Executive Assistant to the Ambassador, Permanent Representative.
Second Secretary, First Secretary of the Executive Office of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Moscow; First Secretary, Counsellor of the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, New York, Chief of Protocol of the Mission, Executive Assistant to the Ambassador, Permanent Representative; and finally as Counsellor, Executive Office of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Moscow.
He was born in 1961 in Minsk, USSR and graduated in 1984 from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (diploma in international economic relations). He is Fluent in English, French and Russian. He is married and has a daughter.
Alessandra Vellucci
Director, United Nations Information Service in Geneva
Ms. Alessandra Vellucci is the Director of United Nations Information Service in Geneva.
She has been with the United Nations since 1991, at first with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and then with the UN Department of Global Communications (DGC). She joined UNCTAD as an Associate Expert on Training, and then worked as Public Information Officer and Focal Point for Communications. Later she headed the training programme “TrainForTrade”, aimed at strengthening the skills of developing countries’ officials in the field of trade, sustainable development and port management.
In December 2010, she joined DGC as Chief of Press and External Relations of the Geneva UN Information Service, where she oversaw media accreditation and outreach activities for UN Geneva and served as Deputy Spokesperson for the Office.
From 2014 to 2016, she joined UNCTAD again as Head of the Intergovernmental Support Service, Executive Secretary of the Trade and Development Board and Officer-in-Charge of Information and Communications. As such she oversaw the intergovernmental negotiations and the promotion of UNCTAD XIV (Nairobi, July 2016).
In July 2016, she became Director of the UN Information Service in Geneva, a position she still holds today. As such, she coordinates all media-related activities at the Palais des Nations, chairs the Geneva UN Communications Group, oversees the activities of UNTV, radio and social media, and supervises outreach events of UN Geneva and the Visitors’ Service. She is also the UN spokesperson in Geneva and holds a bi-weekly press briefing for journalists accredited to the Palais des Nations.
Ms Vellucci holds a Political Science Degree from the Italian University L.U.I.S.S., and a diploma in International Relations with a specialization in International Public Law from the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID). Previously she attended a high-school of languages and is fluent in English, French, Spanish and Italian, her mother tongue.
Francesco Pisano
Director, United Nations Library & Archives Geneva
Francesco Pisano is an expert in international affairs with a professional background in humanitarian affairs, risk management, and research on knowledge systems. He has an academic background in international relations with a specialization in diplomatic studies and conflict resolution, and law with a focus on public international law.
He joined the United Nations in 1993 where he took positions of increasing responsibility with the UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs, its Division for Disaster Mitigation, then with OCHA as Senior Officer.
He served as Director of Research, Technology Applications and Knowledge Systems at the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) where he was also the Manager of UNOSAT (the Operational Satellite Applications Programme) from 2007 to 2012. Since 2016 he leads the UN Library & Archives Geneva, a centre for research and knowledge exchange established in 1919, and the Cultural Activity Programme of UN Geneva, a space dedicated to cultural diplomacy and outreach.
Özge Aydoğan
Director of the SDG Lab, Office of the Director-General
Ms. Özge Aydoğan was nominated Director of the SDG Lab in November 2022. She comes with more than 13 years of experience as an international development professional working across the humanitarian-development spectrum in and with the UN system, international financial institutions, multilateral development banks, the Swiss Government, and research institutions.
Her work has focused on forward-looking social and economic development programming, innovative partnerships, strategy advisory and global policy, anticipatory analysis and research, and strategic foresight.
Before joining the SDG Lab, Ms. Aydoğan was an Advisor and Programme Manager (Multilateral Affairs, UN & Multilateral Development Banks Section) at the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation within the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Liam Drumgoole
Officer-in-Charge, Security & Safety Service, UNOG
Mr. Liam Drumgoole has been the Officer-in-Charge of the Security & Safety Service since April 2021, having joined the Service in May 2017 as the Deputy Chief of Service.
Mr. Drumgoole holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Sociology from the National University of Ireland, and a Masters degree in Security & Risk Management from the University of Leicester, UK. He has also completed postgraduate studies in the Psychology of Leadership with Cornell University. Prior to joining the United Nations, Mr. Drumgoole had twenty-three years’ service in the Irish Defence Forces as a Commissioned Officer in a career in which he held senior Command & Staff appointments, both domestically and in three separate United Nations Peacekeeping missions.
Since joining the United Nations in 2012, Mr. Drumgoole has held a number of appointments in UNDSS. The first as Security Training Coordinator at the Mission Support Unit (2012-2015) located in New York with dual responsibilities for the training of security personnel in the Peacekeeping missions and the Security Service, New York. This was followed by a period as the Security Coordination Officer at Division of Security & Safety Services (2015-2017), where he completed a review and revision of the syllabus of training for United Nations Security Officers, before moving to the Training & Development Section (UNDSS) where he coordinated the second phase of the Global Training Needs Analysis completed in 2017.
Mr. Drumgoole is an Irish national and is married with two children.
Lidiya Grigoreva
Chief, Political Affairs and Partnerships Section, Office of the Director-General
Ms. Lidiya Grigoreva has held the role of Senior Political Affairs Officer since November 2021. She heads the Political Affairs and Partnerships Section at the Office of the Director-General of UN Geneva. She also serves as a Gender Focal Point for UN Geneva and supports the implementation of UN Geneva’s Policy for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.
Ms. Grigoreva has over 20 years of experience as an international civil servant in the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
She began her career in 1999 with the OSCE Centre in Tashkent, where she supported programmes aimed at promoting human rights throughout Uzbekistan. Between 2001 and 2010, she served as Human Dimension Officer at the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in Warsaw, focusing on a range of human rights issues in the OSCE participating States, including the death penalty, freedom of association and assembly, and women’s rights. Between 2010 and 2015, she served as Human Rights Officer at the Civil Society Section of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), where she developed policies and guidance to deepen engagement between civil society and OHCHR. Between 2015 and 2021, she headed the NGO Liaison Unit at UN Geneva, where she supported two Directors-General of UN Geneva in their engagement with civil society and facilitated the participation of NGOs in UN activities in Geneva.
Ms. Grigoreva holds a master’s degree in human rights from the University of Essex, United Kingdom, and a master’s degree in languages from the University of World Languages in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
A national of Uzbekistan, she is married with two daughters.
Markus G. Schmidt
Senior Legal Adviser, UNOG
Mr. Markus G. Schmidt has been Senior Legal Adviser of the UN Office at Geneva (UNOG) since January 2010. In that position, he advises the Director-General of UNOG, UNOG’s senior management and other UN entities based in Geneva on all legal issues related to the operation of UN activities in Geneva, on relations with the host country, and other matters.
Prior to this, he served as team leader of the Petitions Unit in the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (2002-2009), as secretary of the Human Rights Committee (2000-2004), secretary of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (1998 – 2000) and legal officer in the communications unit of the UN Human Rights programme.
Before joining the UN in June 1987, Mr. Schmidt obtained a law degree from the University of Bonn, Germany, a Diploma in Higher European Legal Studies from the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, and a Masters and PhD in International Relations from the University of Oxford.
Aziyade Poltier-Mutal
Senior Officer – Partnerships
Ms. Aziyadé Poltier-Mutal is the Head of the Coordination Team of the future Portail des Nations / Visitor’s Center in the office of the Director-General of UN Geneva.
The Portail des Nations project proposes to provide the United Nations Office in Geneva with a new infrastructure dedicated to welcoming visitors, informing, and educating the public about multilateralism and the work of the United Nations family.
She also supervises the work of the Perception Change Project which aims at broadening the understanding and the importance of the work done by the international actors based in Geneva.
She has worked in the field of communications in public relations firms and United Nations agencies for more than 25 years. She coordinated media relations and special events at the United Nations “Earth Summit” before being appointed Head of Communications at the Earth Council in Costa Rica.
Before joining UNOG, she was Communications Partnerships Manager at the Geneva office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) where she initiated and managed partnerships with world leading advertising agencies, media, celebrities, influential people and private companies to boost UNDP’s corporate communication and benefit field projects.
She also managed the relations with the celebrities appointed UNDP global Goodwill Ambassadors as well as the 12 annual “Matches Against Poverty” initiated by football players Ronaldo Nazario and Zinédine Zidane. Through her career she has contributed to the sports for development activities with international sports organizations based in Switzerland.
Ms. Poltier-Mutal graduated from la Sorbonne, the Institute of International Relations Studies in Paris and the Graduate Institute of Development Studies in Geneva. Originally from The Netherlands, she has lived many years in South America and is fluent in English, French and Spanish.