By Juliet Nalwooga
Catherine Russell has today taken office as the new United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director, becoming the fourth woman to lead the organization in its 75-year history.
Upon assuming office today Russel said millions of children globally are still grossly affected by the negative effects of the COVID pandemic and assured that UNICEF will keep doing whatever it can to protect children’s rights and their futures.
From 2020 to 2022, Russell served in the US government as Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel.
She previously served from 2013 to 2017 as Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues at the U.S. Department of State.
She is the eighth Executive Director to lead UNICEF, a 20,000-person-strong agency.
