Secretary-General Appoints Mary Kirtley Waters of United States Director, United Nations Information Centre, Washington, D.C.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Mary Kirtley Waters of the United States as Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Washington, D.C.  Ms. Waters assumed her duties on 1 February.

Prior to this appointment, Ms. Waters served as Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Legislative Affairs at the United States Department of State in Washington, D.C.  She also oversaw the confirmation process for United States ambassadors and State Department leadership.  From 2001 to 2005, Ms. Waters was Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations in the Department of Agriculture.

In addition to her Government roles, Ms. Waters also held several leadership positions in the private sector.  She was Director of Business Development in a communications start-up company in 2014, President of the North American Millers Association from 2010 to 2013, Vice-President at the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation from 2005 to 2010, as well as Senior Director and Legislative Counsel at ConAgra Foods from 1986 to 2001.

Ms. Waters holds a doctorate in law from George Mason University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the United States.