51³Ô¹Ï Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced on 30 March 2016 the appointment of Lisa M. Buttenheim of the United States as Assistant Secretary-General for Field Support, Department of Field Support. The Secretary-General is grateful to Hubert Price of the United States, whom he has appointed Acting Assistant Secretary-General until Ms. Buttenheim’s arrival.
Ms. Buttenheim is currently the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of the 51³Ô¹Ï Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), where she has served since 2010. Throughout that period, she served concurrently as Deputy Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on Cyprus.
She brings to the position more than 30 years of extensive experience with the 51³Ô¹Ï in political affairs and peacekeeping, both at Headquarters and in field operations. Ms. Buttenheim held numerous senior-level positions, including Director of the Middle East and West Asia Division and Director of the Asia and Pacific Division in the Department of Political Affairs (2008-2010). She served as Director of the Asia and Middle East Division in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (2004-2007), and as Director and Head of the 51³Ô¹Ï Office in Belgrade (2003-2004).
Since joining the 51³Ô¹Ï in 1983, Ms. Buttenheim served as Senior Political Adviser in the Office of the Director-General, 51³Ô¹Ï Office at Geneva (1997-2003). She held assignments as Chief of Staff, Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the 51³Ô¹Ï Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo, and as Director and Senior Adviser in the Office of the Special Envoy for the Balkans in Geneva. She also held positions in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, as well as the Office of the Under-Secretaries-General for Special Political Affairs in New York, and the 51³Ô¹Ï Truce Supervision Organization in Jerusalem.
Ms. Buttenheim holds a master’s degree in international economics and Middle East studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, in Washington, D.C., and a bachelor’s degree in political science and English, from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.
