Director

Irena Zubcevic, Director

[email protected]

Irena Zubcevic, Director

Irena Zubcevic, SF’s new Director, took office on 1 August 2022 following her retirement from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

She took over the role from Charles Nouhan who has been SF’s Acting Director for the last 9 months since the previous Director, Ruben Zondervan stood down for health reasons in October 2021. Charles Nouhan will continue to act as Chairman of the Board of Stakeholder Forum.

Irena Zubcevic has worked for over 20 years in the area of sustainable development both as part of the Croatian foreign service (from 1993 to 2007) and at the United Nations Secretariat (2008-July 2022) and contributed to a number of reports and papers in the area of sustainable development. She supported the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) since its inception. She was also supporting countries preparing their Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) since their beginning in 2016. In her work, Irena was working with stakeholders of all kinds from governments to civil society, business, academia, etc., facilitating their participation at the HLPF and other intergovernmental processes.

Prior to her appointment, Irena said: “I am honored by this appointment. Stakeholders of all kinds have a crucial role to play in enriching and deepening the work of the United Nations and other international organisations on sustainable development and the protection of the environment. I have been privileged to promote this kind of engagement with stakeholders on sustainability issues whilst working at UNDESA; and I am delighted now to be able to continue this work from outside the UN as Director of Stakeholder Forum, which has done so much over the years to advance this cause, and to help develop creative partnerships between Governments, officials and non-governmental actors of all kinds on sustainable development.”