Angela Kane of Germany named U.N. management chief, predecessor goes to Latin America

UNITED NATIONS: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday appointed Angela Kane of Germany as the new U.N. management chief, replacing Alicia Barcena of Mexico who will return to her native Mexico to head the U.N.'s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Kane will take over from Barcena as undersecretary-general for management on July 1, U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said. In that post, she will oversee the continuing reform of the United Nations.

Kane has been assistant secretary-general for political affairs since December 2005 and previously held a variety of U.N. posts — in the departments of General Assembly and Conference Management, the Department of Public Information, and in U.N. missions in Ethiopia and Eritrea, Jakarta, Indonesia and Bangkok, Thailand. Before joining the U.N., Kane worked for the World Bank in Washington and for private industry in Europe.

Barcena, who will retain the rank of undersecretary-general, has been in charge of U.N. management operations since Ban became secretary-general in January 2007. She previously served as chief of staff to former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Earlier in her career, she served as deputy executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. She will now head the commission as executive secretary, replacing Jose Luis Machinea. Barcena also previously served in the Mexican government as first vice-minister of ecology and director-general of the National Institute of Fisheries.

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