Leadership

Jean-Pierre Lacroix

Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations

Mr. Jean-Pierre Lacroix is the Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations. 

Mr. Lacroix brings to the position over 25 years of political and diplomatic experience, with a focus on multilateral organizations, and on United Nations activities and programmes. 

Mr. Lacroix served from 2014 to 2017 as Director for United Nations, International Organizations, Human Rights and Francophonie at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

His previous appointments include Ambassador of France to Sweden, Chief of Protocol of France, Deputy Permanent Representative at the Permanent Mission of France to the United Nations in New York, Deputy Chief of Mission at the French Embassy in Prague and First Secretary then Second Counsellor at the French Embassy in Washington.

He also served as Advisor at the Cabinet of the French Prime Minister.

Born on 2 May 1960, Mr. Lacroix holds BAs from the Institute of Economic and Commercial Sciences (ESSEC), the Institute for Political Studies - Sciences Po Paris and the National School of Administration (ENA), as a graduate of the Class “Michel de Montaigne.”

Alexandre Zouev

Assistant Secretary-General for Rule of Law and Security Institutions

Mr. Alexandre Zouev is the current Assistant Secretary-General for Rule of Law and Security Institutions.

Mr. Zouev joined the United Nations in 1990 and has served with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).  From June 2016 until his current position, he was the Global Programme Manager and Special Adviser on Prevention of Violent Extremism with UNDP.  Before that, he was the United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Tajikistan between 2011 and 2016. With UNICEF, Mr. Zouev served as Representative in Kazakhstan from 2008 to 2011, having previously held a number of managerial positions at UNICEF Headquarters, covering Central Asia and the Baltics, as well as United Nations and Intergovernmental Affairs.

During his time as Principal Adviser to the Executive Director of UNOPS (2003-2004), Mr. Zouev also served as United Nations Senior Coordinator leading development of the Interagency Post-Crisis Needs Assessment for Haiti, in Port-au-Prince.

Prior to joining the United Nations, he worked as a Dean at his alma mater, the Moscow State Institute/University for International Relations (MGIMO) while also serving in his country’s diplomatic service from 1987 to 1990, working primarily on United Nations, as well as social and economic development, issues.

Mr. Zouev graduated cum laude in 1980, also earning a Ph.D. in development economics from MGIMO in 1983. He has authored numerous books and articles on social and economic aspects of development.

Bintou Keita

Assistant Secretary-General for Africa

Ms. Bintou Keita is the current Assistant-Secretary General for Africa.

Ms. Keita joined the United Nations in 1989.  From 2015 to 2017, she served as Deputy Joint Special Representative for the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID).  Prior to that, her most recent positions include Ebola Crisis Manager for Sierra Leone, Chief of Staff and Director of Operations for the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response from 2014 to 2015.

Ms. Keita served in several senior management and leadership functions with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Chad, Congo, Madagascar, Cape Verde, Rwanda, Burundi and the United States.  From 2007 to 2010, she was Deputy Executive Representative of the Secretary-General for the United Nations Integrated Office in Burundi.  She has also worked with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Canadian International Development Agency in Guinea.

Born in 1958, Ms. Keita holds a master’s degree in social economy from the University Paris II, France, and a post-graduate degree in business administration and management from the University of Paris IX, France.

Miroslav Jenča

Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and Americas

Mr. Miroslav Jenča is the current Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and Americas.

Miroslav Jenča of Slovakia assumed Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs on 1 May 2015, having been appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Mr. Jenča succeeds Jens Toyberg-Frandzen of Denmark who was appointed Assistant Secretary-General ad interim for Political Affairs in November 2014.

As Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Mr. Jenča will be responsible, inter alia, for overseeing the divisions in the Department of Political Affairs dealing with the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the Middle East and West Asia, as well as the Decolonization Unit and the Division for Palestinian Rights.

Mr. Jenča has served as the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA) in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, since 2008. He was previously Director of the Office of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Slovakia, as well as Ambassador and Head of Mission to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Centre in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He served as Ambassador and Representative of Slovakia to the Political and Security Committee of the European Union and Ambassador of Slovakia to Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia, including positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia and diplomatic missions in Ireland and Mexico.

Mr. Jenča holds a Doctor of Law degree from Comenius University in Bratislava. He studied foreign trade at the University of Economics in Bratislava, diplomacy and international relations at Moscow State Institute of International Relations, and diplomacy at Stanford University.

Mohamed Khaled Khiari

Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific

Mr. Mohamed Khaled Khiari is the current Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific.

Mr. Khiari brings over 35 years of experience in diplomacy and foreign affairs alternating between his Foreign Ministry headquarters and overseas postings. He served inter alia as Director General of Americas, Asia and Oceania in the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Tunisia to the United Nations in New York (2012-2018), Director of Human Rights within the Department of International Organizations and Conferences at the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2011-2012), Chargé de Mission in the Ministry of Youth and Sports (2009-2010), Deputy Director, Euromed, within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Europe Directorate (2007-2009), Deputy Head of Mission (2003–2006) and Secretary of Foreign Affairs with the Permanent Mission of Tunisia to the United Nations Office in Geneva (1987-1993) and the Ministry’s Department of Maghreb Countries (1984).
 
Mr. Khiari participated in numerous multilateral and regional activities during his career with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, notably as Co-Chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiations on Security Council Reform, President of the Executive Board of UN Women, Vice-President of the UN General Assembly, Non-Aligned Movement Coordinator of the Peacebuilding Commission in New York, President of the African Group of experts to the World Summit on Information Society in Geneva and Coordinator of the Arab group on European Parliament issues in Brussels. 
 
He is a graduate of the Higher Institute of Management of Tunis, where he earned a master’s degree in Management, specializing in marketing.

Lieutenant General Carlos Humberto Loitey

Military Adviser

The Office of Military Affairs is headed by the Military Adviser, a serving Lieutenant General at the level of Assistant Secretary-General, who is accountable to the Under-Secretary-General.

The Military Adviser is responsible for providing military advice to the Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations and, when requested, through him or her to the Under-Secretaries-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Support, the Secretary-General and the Security Council. The Military Adviser also provides advice and support to heads of offices and divisions within the Department of Peace Operations, the Department of Operational Support, operations with military components led by the Department of Peace Operations and missions with military advisory functions led by the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs.