Our Team in Bhutan

Karla Robin Hershey

Karla Robin Hershey

UN
Resident Coordinator
 
 
 
Ms. Hershey brings more than 30 years of experience in development coordination, international relations, resource mobilization, change management and humanitarian affairs, which she has acquired at the United Nations and externally, to the position. At the United Nations, she most recently served as the Representative and Country Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) in Liberia. She also held other senior-level representational roles, including United Nations Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Serbia and, prior to that, in Lesotho. With WFP, she was also a Senior Adviser on United Nations Reform in the USA, Representative and Country Director in Eswatini, Country Director ad interim in Syria, Deputy Country Director and Head of Programme in Malawi and Head of Resource Mobilization, Food Procurement and Pipeline Management in Tanzania. She started her career with the Organization as a Humanitarian Affairs Officer with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Angola.

Prior to joining the United Nations, she worked with international non-governmental organizations World Vision International in Angola and Rotary International in the USA after completing an assignment as a Business Advisor to the Ministry of Youth and Cooperatives in Rwanda as part of the USA’s Peace Corps volunteer programme.

Ms. Hershey completed post-graduate coursework from the London School of Economics and Political Science in London, UK and holds a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) from the American InterContinental University in Atlanta, USA. She also has a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, USA and completed university coursework from Oxford University in Oxford, UK.
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Andrea Wojnar

UNFPA
Country Director
 
 
 
Ms. Andrea Wojnar is the Resident Representative for UNFPA India and the Country Director for Bhutan; she took up her role on 18 January and reported for duty in Delhi on 15 February, 2022.
Ms Wojnar is a citizen of the United States of America, and holds a Master’s degree in management from McGill University (Montreal, Canada), with studies at INSEAD (France), Lancaster University (United Kingdom), Indian Institute of Management (Bengaluru, India), LG Institute (South Korea) and Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (Kanazawa, Japan). She also holds a Master’s in Social Change and Development Economics from the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies (Washington D.C.).
Prior to her arrival in India, Ms. Wojnar was UNFPA Representative in Mozambique, Senegal and Country Director for The Gambia. Before joining the United Nations, she led development and humanitarian programmes both at the grassroots and at the national level for the US Peace Corps, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and the American Red Cross Society in more than 50 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
In a career spanning thirty-six years, Ms. Wojnar has been at the forefront of programmes that have focused on the rights and health of women and girls, and giving a voice to youth and adolescents. The ‘power of data’ being her core guiding principle, she is passionate about using evidence-based results to conduct public advocacy and high-level policy dialogue to influence decision-makers on the importance of gender equality for sustainable development.
Ms. Wojnar is a strong advocate of ensuring Rights and Choices for All.

Atsuko Okuda

Atsuko Okuda

ITU
Regional Director
atsuko.okuda@itu.int
 
 
Ms. Atsuko Okuda is the Regional Director of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), for Asia and the Pacific. Ms. Okuda has several years of professional and leadership experience in the field of ICT and development working with different UN organizations. Prior to joining ITU, she was the Chief of the ICT and Development Section of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), in Bangkok, Thailand where she promoted the development of regional broadband connectivity through the implementation of the Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway (AP-IS) initiative. Ms. Okuda has also worked with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) in Beirut, UNHQ, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the UNDP Country Office in Bhutan. Ms. Okuda obtained a BA from Kyoto University (Japan), MA from Helsinki University (Finland) and PhD from the United Nations University – Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (Netherlands).
Ken Shimizu

Ken Shimizu

FAO
FAO Representative
Ken.Shimizu@fao.org
 
 
Mr Ken Shimizu is the FAO Country Representative for Bhutan and Nepal, since July 2021. Prior to this appointment, Mr Shimizu worked as the FAO Representative for Papua New Guinea since 2013. Ken has 24 years of experience in food security, agricultural and rural development, natural resources management, climate change, disaster risk reduction and emergency coordination, primarily with FAO and other UN agencies in Asia and the Pacific. Ken is a national of Japan, and holds a Masters in Environmental Planning from Cornell University in the USA.
Rui Paulo De Jesus

Rui Paulo De Jesus

WHO
Representative
jesusr@who.int
 
 
Dr Rui Paulo de Jesus is the WHO Representative to Bhutan. Prior to his current appointment, Dr Rui worked at WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia in New Delhi, India, in various capacities as the Coordinator, Country Support and Coordination and Regional Adviser for Communicable Disease Department. He joined WCO Bhutan on 8 Feb 2017 as an acting WHO Representative.
Sarah Knibbs

Sarah Knibbs

UN Women
Regional Director, Ad Interim
Sarah.Knibbs@unwomen.org
 
 
Sarah Knibbs has been working in the Asia Pacific region for the last 25 years, with a range of organisations including UN Women, UNFPA, DFID China, Save the Children Fund, VSO and the Khmer HIV/AIDS NGO Alliance (KHANA). Her work has focused on gender, violence against women, HIV, youth issues, and sexual and reproductive health and rights. Sarah joined UN Women in 2014. She was initially based at Cambodia Country Office and moved to the UN Women Regional Office for Asia Pacific in June 2020 where she is the Deputy Regional Director. She is currently the Regional Director, Ad Interim. Sarah is from the UK and studied History at Oxford for her first degree, later taking an MSc in Development Management specialising in Population and Reproductive Health at the University of Wales Swansea.
Svante Helms

Svante Helms

WFP
Head of Office
svante.helms@wfp.org
 
 
Mr. Svante Helms is the Head of Office of WFP Bhutan Country Office. He has been a part of the UN system since 2005 and has worked in different positions in Tanzania, Johannesburg, Nepal, Egypt and China. Prior to his arrival in Bhutan in August 2018, he was the Programme Policy Officer for WFP, Safety-Nets & Social Protection Unit in HQ. He holds Masters Degree in Geography and Communication Studies with focus Development Studies, Regional Development, Business Policy, Communication Theory and Journalism, Discourse Theory, Organizational Innovation and Political Science from the University of Roskilde in Denmark.
UNODC

Tandin Wangmo

UNODC
UN Communications Group Member
 
 
 
Tandin Wangmo brings a diverse professional portfolio with her. Prior to joining UNODC, she was the Executive Director of RENEW. She consulted with Bhutan’s Institute of Management Studies on numerous social issues – including those related to gender, youth, program design and leadership training. In the political sector, she served as the Spokesperson and Director of Media & Knowledge Center for the People’s Democratic Party of Bhutan. She was the Deputy Executive Director of the Gross National Happiness Center (GNHC) from 2012-2013. She is a scholar and educator and began her career as a teacher with the Ministry of Education from 1997-2002. She holds a Masters in Educational Studies from the University of Newcastle, Australia and a Bachelor’s in Education from Samtse College of Education, Bhutan.
Will Parks

Will Parks

UNICEF
Representative
wparks@unicef.org
 
 
Mr. Will Parks, Representative of UNICEF Bhutan Country Office. For the last 26 years in over 40 countries, Will has led the design and management of programmes that have achieved strong results for children as well as built the capacities of communities, governments, civil society organizations, academia, the private sector, media, and international agencies. He specializes in economic policy, communication, public health, and evaluation.