María Isabel Salvador of Ecuador

Special Representative of the Secretary-General ​and Head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH). 

On 1 March, Secretary-General António Guterres announced the appointment of María Isabel Salvador of Ecuador as his Special Representative for Haiti and Head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH).

Ms. Salvador will succeed Helen Meagher La Lime of the United States to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her dedicated service and steadfast commitment to the work of the United Nations in Haiti.

Ms. Salvador brings to this position over 25 years of experience in managerial, advisory, political, and diplomatic functions. 

She has served as President of the Governing Council of the Galapagos (2013-2015), Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the Organization of American States (2010-2013), Member of the Andean Parliament (2009-2010), as well as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Integration (2007-2008) and Minister of Tourism (2005-2007) of Ecuador. 

She also has vast management experience from the private sector having served as General Manager and Legal Representative of Air France in Ecuador (1995-2005).

She is currently Director of External Relations at UDLA University of the Americas in Ecuador, a post she has held since 2015.

Ms. Salvador holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Andrés Bello University, Chile, and the European University of Madrid, Spain, and a Bachelor’s degree in French Language and Civilization from the University of Geneva in Switzerland. She is currently completing a law degree in Human and Nature Rights at the University of the Americas in Ecuador. 

She is fluent in English and French, in addition to her native Spanish.

Ulrika Richardson

Deputy Special Representative for the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Haiti.

Ms. Ulrika Richardson, a Swedish national, has dedicated more than 30 years to international cooperation. Most of her professional life has been devoted to international civil service in the field through the United Nations primarily in West and Central Africa, the Caribbean as well as Western Balkans and South-East Europe. Ms. Richardson has extensive experience in a broad range of development, conflict, post-conflict, and humanitarian settings in a wide range of complex political, socio-economic, fragility, and human rights contexts with a strong track record in advocating for women and children’s rights. She is also known to have in-depth knowledge of the multidimensional challenges Small Island Developing States are facing.

Prior to her current position as Deputy Special Representative for the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Haiti, Ms. Richardson served as UN Resident Coordinator in Kosovo.

Before that, she was the UN Resident Coordinator in Cabo Verde, where she also was the Resident Representative of UNDP, UNICEF, and UNFPA.

Ms. Richardson has ample experience in international affairs and development cooperation, having served as United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Gabon (2012-2013), Deputy Resident Representative in Turkey (2007-2012), and in Cuba (2004- 2007), where she also worked on regional disaster preparedness. She joined the Organization in 1995 with the United Nations Volunteer.

Ms. Richardson also held a position at the African Development Bank in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, on coordination, liaison, and negotiation of Nordic cooperation.

Prior to her international journey, she worked for the Swedish Immigration Board at a major Residential Refugee Camp for refugees during the Balkan wars.

Ms. Richardson holds a Master’s in international development and Development Economics from the University of Gothenburg as well as a Bachelor's in Social Psychology from the University of Lund, both in Sweden. She carried out her Master's research in Guinea Bissau financed by the Swedish International Development Agency.

Ms. Richardson is fluent in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.