Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon has appointed Choi Soon-hong of South Korea as Chief Information Technology Officer, Assistant Secretary-General, news reports said Saturday.
In this position, Choi will be responsible for all substantive and operational needs on information and communication technologies of the United Nations. This will involve developing, maintaining and monitoring the implementation of effective tools and strategies to modernize the organization. One of the immediate tasks will be to oversee the introduction of the new Enterprise Resource Planning system accross the organization.
He will be responsible for providing leadership and coordination in the area of IT to strengthen the ability of UN to deliver the change management needed. As you will recall, the General Assembly approved the position of Chief Technology Information Officer in July 2006, as part of the reform proposals put forth last year by the Secretary-General.
Choi has 30 years of technical and management experience in the public and private sectors. He has a PhD from the George Washington University. He joined the International Monetary Fund in 1981 and has served as its Head of Information Technology Services since 2004. He also has experience in the private sector.
Choi has lectured and researched in the fields of public policy, strategic management, and innovation. He has presented his work in a number of major international conferences. His recent research interests include globalization, technology competition, digital society, knowledge sharing, and ICT for development.
He will join the United Nations as of September 1.