13 March 2018: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed Elliott Harris as UN Chief Economist and Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development in the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). Lenni Montiel held the position prior to Harris.

Harris, of Trinidad and Tobago, has been the head of the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) New York office since 2015, following his role as the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) special representative to the UN.

DESA is headed by the UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Liu Zhenmin, of China. According to DESA’s organizational chart, the Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development is responsible for policy guidance for analytical documents, publications, data gathering and knowledge management, while an Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs is responsible for inter-agency affairs and oversight of technical cooperation.

Thomas Gass of Switzerland served as the ASG for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs until late 2017. [DESA News] [Biographical Note] [Organizational Chart]