UNRIC MAGAZINE July Edition 2009

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is pleased to announce the appointment of Christopher Woodthorpe as Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Canberra.  In addition to Australia, Canberra covers Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.  Mr. Woodthorpe assumed his new duties on 13 May 2009.

Mr. Woodthorpe, a national of the United States, has most recently held the position of Chief of Sales and Marketing, in the Outreach Division of Department of Public Information, since February 2000. In that capacity, he was responsible for the overall management of the Section, including publications sales offices and bookshops in both New York and Geneva, as well as the editorial and sales offices of Development Business in New York and Washington, D.C., and the External Publications office.  Previously, he worked as a Marketing and Product Development Officer and as a Sales Officer with the Advertising and Promotions Unit in the same Division.

Prior to joining the United Nations, Mr. Woodthorpe worked with McGraw-Hill, Inc., as Director of Marketing, Healthcare Information Services and then as Director of North American Operations for Medical China, and with the London-based office of VNU Business publications, BV as Advertising Manager and then as Vice-President of Sales and Marketing.

Mr. Woodthorpe has a Master of Arts degree in geography from Cambridge University.

Born in 1958, he is married and has three children.

News source: United Nations