Governance and Management

The Secretary General of the United Nations appointed Sameer Chauhan to the post of Director, UNICC as of 1 December 2019. Sameer was already serving as the Director (Interim) since August 2018. The UNICC Director is directly accountable to the UNICC Management Committee that governs the organisation.

The Director has the responsibility to lead all aspects of UNICC’s strategy and operations, to facilitate the provision of services to more than 80 Clients and Partner Organizations and to establish an UNICC strategy, develop a two- to four-year business plan and budget, and to implement the approved plan. Sameer joined UNICC in August 2015 in New York as Chief, Clients and Projects. In this capacity, he was responsible for product development, for the CRM function, for project delivery of all Client and internal projects, and also as the administrative head of the New York office of UNICC. Sameer has over twenty years of prior experience in both public and private sectors and an educational background in Computer Engineering and Computer Science. Before UNICC, Sameer was the Head of Knowledge Management and Digital Marketing IT for Deutsche Bank Asset and Wealth Management. He played several roles at Deutsche Bank over eight years, including being the COO for an IT division of approx. 800 staff and externals as well as being the product manager responsible for developing and delivering on the online platform strategy for a multi-billion-dollar trading platform for DB Prime Brokerage. Prior to Deutsche Bank, Sameer spent several years as a consultant for Deloitte working across various industries including financial services, public sector, telecom, manufacturing and software. He started his career as an IT developer in the U.S. public sector, developing child and family welfare systems for various U.S. state governments.

Milena joined UNICC in 2013 as Head, Governance, Risk and Compliance and QA Manager, where she built the function from the ground up and led various initiatives that raised the profile of the organization in risk management, corporate compliance, quality, audit readiness, overall standardization and optimization of operations and processes. As Chief of Staff and Chief of the Management and Strategy Division, Milena provides direction and guidance around the delivery of the UNICC mandate, covering strategy implementation, business performance, HR, Strategic Partnerships, External Relations and overseeing Procurement & Administration, in strict adherence with applicable rules, regulations and audit requirements. She supports the Director in leading key business transformation initiatives and in reporting UNICC progress towards achievement of objectives to oversight bodies. Prior to joining UNICC, Milena worked in the “Big 4” risk and consulting business, with Deloitte and then KPMG. She managed and delivered numerous engagements in the area of Information Technology governance, risk management, internal control, information security, service continuity, across multiple countries. During this time, she also served as Board Member of the Swiss Chapter of ISACA (Information Systems Audit and Control Association) in charge of the French speaking regions. Milena has a Master’s in Business Information Systems and a Bachelor’s in Economics from the Faculty of Business and Economics (HEC) of the University of Lausanne. She also holds a postgraduate diploma in Sustainability Management from the University of Geneva and is a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA).

Marco was appointed Chief, Digital Delivery Division (previously called Clients and Projects Division) in October 2022. Marco was previously appointed Chief, Operations in October 2020 and was already serving as Acting Chief, Operations since January 2017.

The Chief of Operations role provides strategic leadership and oversight to UNICC in regard to technology operations matters. This means leading the Operations Division, providing support and guidance across all its sections and assists the Director in establishing UNICC’s work plan and strategic directions. Serves as a member of the UNICC Executive Committee and take shared responsibility for the work of that group, including the management of risk for the organization.

Marco joined UNICC in 2002 as a systems analyst to oversee the development of a software solution for a Partner Organization. Starting in 2007, Marco was selected as Head, Application Support Unit, providing operational management to the application support services for an UNICC Client. In 2011, Marco was Acting Chief, Brindisi Services, providing leadership to UNICC services from Brindisi, Italy. He was confirmed in this position newly redefined as Chief, Business Solutions Section, in July 2014.

Marco has a Master’s degree in computer engineering from University of Salento, Italy. Marco started his career in 1996 as software developer for the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations. From 1997 to 1998 he served as Network Manager in MONUA, the peacekeeping mission of the UN in Angola. He then went back to work at the UN base in Brindisi in developing, implementing and supporting software systems for the Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

A strong believer in the power of collaboration and leveraging collective wisdom in teams, Marco is humbled and thankful for the support he has received by his colleagues throughout his career. He feels privileged to be to able work for UNICC, and has always clear in his mind that UNICC’s work is nothing less than the support and enablement of the United Nations system and, ultimately, its values, which are indispensable foundations of a more peaceful, prosperous and just world.

Marco enjoys playing piano and can also be found on long runs and bike rides on country roads or sailing along the beautiful Apulian coast.

Lorraine joined UNICC in March 2023 as Programme Director to provide strategic and operational leadership and oversight to the UN Digital ID Programme. This UN transformative programme aims to provide its workforce with a universal, system-wide identity.

Prior to joining UNICC, Lorraine worked for the World Health Organization for 25 years covering both operations and strategy. She started in application development, database management and business analysis, prior to becoming a project manager. Since 2008, Lorraine has served as Head of Budget/Finance/Administration of the IT department in headquarters, Head of the Global Service Desk, Project Management Officer for WHO Reform in the Director General’s office, Head of Project Management Office and Governance and Secretariat for the Global IT Steering Committee. In 2016, she established the Project Management Centre of Excellence (PMCoE) which aims at institutionalizing Project Management as a discipline across the Organization. Following that success, she went on and established another Centre of Excellence on organizational Change Management. Lorraine has also served as Chief of Staff for Chief Information Officers (past and present) and has also deputized in numerous occasions.

Lorraine is certified in the PMO discipline. She has established 4 PMOs during her time in WHO: a PMO for Ebola outbreak, a PMO for the IT department, a PMO for the replacement of the ERP system and a Project Management Centre of Excellence.

She is willing to share her knowledge and experience and has given talks and presentations to universities about project management, change, and more importantly leadership. She believes in growing a team and leveraging the talents of each individual to build a collective strength that advances the strategy working in a productive, respectful, fun and safe environment.

Before joining the UN system, Lorraine was in the private sector doing management consulting work and delivered projects related to insurances, utilities and supply.

Lorraine has a Master’s degree in Business Administration and a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science specializing in Information Technology.

Dimitra Ralli was appointed Officer-in-Charge Chief, Operations in December 2022. In this role, Dimitra provides strategic leadership and oversight of UNICC’s technology and operational segments. This includes leading the Operations Division, providing support and direction across all its sub-sections as well as assisting the Director in establishing UNICC’s work plan and strategic objectives.

Dimitra joined UNICC 25 years ago, bringing a wealth of international experience and UN system expertise. At UNICC she has held leadership positions for over 10 years in the Application Support and Service Management units, and has played a significant role on several successful transformational initiatives. She has also worked on projects with partners both on HQ and challenging field locations such as Kabul, Afghanistan.

Over the years, Dimitra has developed her competencies and expertise in service management and customer excellence, and has gained a solid and thorough understanding of the challenges and potentials of running an operations division. With her skills in communication and change management, Dimitra seeks to introduce and support innovative ideas and adoption of new ways of functioning efficiently to continue delivering value and growth.

Previous to UNICC, Dimitra worked as a business analyst and developer providing services to UNECE and OHCHR. Dimitra’s educational background is on Applied Informatics with specialization in computing, data processing and econometrics. Balancing her overall activities and interests, Dimitra practices Yoga extensively and is registered as a certified instructor by the Yoga Alliance association.

Anish Sethi was appointed Chief of Digital Solutions Centre in October 2022. Anish was previously appointed Chief, Clients and Projects Division in October 2020 and was already serving as Chief, Clients and Projects Division since October 2018. In this role he was responsible for professional services at UNICC, including oversight of new services and products as well as development of strategic partnerships with technology and international development organizations. He led the Business Relationship Management function, which manages, strengthens and grows UNICC’s Client base. He also did head the Project Delivery unit responsible for managing and delivering all Client and UNICC projects, including all consulting engagements. Anish is the administrative head of the UNICC New York office.

Anish joined UNICC in 2005 and has been involved in several Client professional consulting engagements, including strategizing and managing cross-cultural teams to deliver large mission critical client services and project office initiatives.

Anish has over twenty-eight years of experience in the various aspects of information and communication technology businesses and has an educational background of Electrical and Electronics Engineering.

Over the years, he has engaged in strategy and execution of professional services in the areas of Program and Portfolio Management, business and process management, enterprise architectures, portals, knowledge and search solutions, business intelligence solutions, team collaboration and messaging, and enterprise planning.

Tima joined UNICC in 2016 as Head, Information Security Services. In 2019, she was appointed as Chief, Cybersecurity Division that oversees the security programme for UNICC and that delivers cybersecurity services to UNICC’s Partner Organizations.

Tima oversees UNICC’s cybersecurity team of experts in New York, Valencia, Rome and Geneva for UNICC’s more than 40 subscribers to information security services. She has served as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for several UNICC Partner Organizations including UN Women, the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and currently also serves as the CISO for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Tima has worked to develop and implement information security programmes by delivering various information security initiatives like information security governance, risk management, security operations and security awareness as per industry best practices.

Tima strongly believes in collaboration and sharing of knowledge within the cybersecurity community and has spearheaded the development of many common cybersecurity solutions within the UN family. She has helped UNICC partner agencies in responding to complex cybersecurity incidents and developed cybersecurity roadmaps for many UNICC Partner Organizations.

She oversees the delivery of several UNICC cybersecurity services that include the Common Secure threat intelligence network that UNICC runs within the UN system, the Common Secure Operations Centre, the common security testing services, the common cybersecurity incident response services as well as common UN PKI services. Before joining UNICC, Tima worked for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) where she worked closely with the technical teams responsible for performing inspections in more than 190 member countries of OPCW to provide confidentiality and information security support.

Before that, she worked for IBM to develop and deliver information security services to IBM customers. Tima holds an MSc in Information Technology, MSc in Cyber Crime and Computer Forensic Investigations and a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Mathematics. Tima holds industry information security certifications CISSP, CISA, CISM, GCFA, GWAPT, ISO 27001 Lead Auditor and Implementer. Tima received the Nobel Peace Laureate Award in 2012 for her contribution to the work of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons during the Syria crisis.