Devex

A Devex Conversation with:

Atefeh Riazi

Date

October 23, 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM EST

Location

Online

Hosted by:

Event Overview

Devex hosted this conversation with Atefeh Riazi, the United Nations Chief Information Technology Officer (CIO), Assistant Secretary-General, Office of Information and Communications Technology, live from the UN Secretariat in New York. Atefeh provided insight into current trends in digital disruption and what it means for international organizations, specifically for CIOs as they’ve have had to adapt their work to new data and technologies in a changing landscape.

In addition to Atefeh, we heard from leading voices in the UN CIO network including Doug Greene, CIO and Director at UNHCR and Daniel Couture, CIO at UNICEF, who contributed their experiences and perspectives on a changing technological landscape.

This conversation is part of a series of Devex events aimed to address a growing need within the global development community for direct dialogue with policy makers to better understand a changing and complex development ecosystem.

Speakers

Atefeh Riazi

Chief Information Technology Officer, Assistant Secretary-General, United Nations

In May 2013, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Atefeh Riazi as Chief Information Technology Officer. Atefeh Riazi brings with her wide-ranging experience in the public and private sector, with a focus on leading complex organizational change involving large departments in challenging environments to deliver vital business transformation through the use of innovation and technology. She has also served as the CIO of New York City Housing Authority with oversight responsibilities for design and deployment of smart building technologies and cost containment practices.

Daniel Couture

CIO, UNICEF

Daniel Couture assumed the position of CIO on 29 July 2015. From 2012 to 2014, he served as the CIO for Zoetis, a global animal health company spun off from Pfizer in 2013. In this capacity, Daniel successfully built the Information Technology function to enable Zoetis to operate as a standalone company following its IPO, and delivered global systems to leverage processes and information across all business areas. Prior to that, from 1984 to 2012, he had a distinguished career as a senior IT executive in Pfizer, holding CIO positions in the USA, Japan and Canada.

Doug Greene

Director & CIO, UNHCR

Doug Greene was appointed Director and Chief Information Officer of UNHCR as of 6 January 2014. He brings nearly 30 years of professional experience in the not-for-profit, public and private sectors, including over 20 years in Information Technology (IT) leading and managing large-scale, global Information Technology operations. In addition, Greene has nearly 25 years of international experience, working for the United States Peace Corps, Catholic Relief Services, and the American Red Cross.

Moderator

Raj Kumar

President & Editor-in-Chief, Devex

Raj Kumar leads a global team of over 100 Devexers and serves a community of 1 million global development professionals. His personal experience in over 50 countries, including a childhood partly spent in rural India, informs his work.