LAKSHMI PURI ASSISTANT SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR INTERGOVERNMENTAL SUPPORT AND STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS UNITED NATIONS ENTITY FOR GENDER EQUALITY AND THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN (UN WOMEN) In this position within UN Women, Ms. Puri is responsible for the leadership and management of the Bureau supporting intergovernmental bodies, United Nations coordination and external relations. She also serves as one of the two Deputies to the Executive Director of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet. Ms. Puri brings a wealth of experience to this position and has worked in different capacities for gender equality and women’s empowerment in the context of development, human rights and peace and security. Following a distinguished 28-year career with the Indian Foreign Service, where she held various posts in political and economic policymaking and bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, including as Ambassador of India to Hungary and concurrently accredited to Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1999 to 2002, Ms. Puri joined the United Nations in 2002. Ms. Puri was the Director of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Division of International Trade in Goods, Services and Commodities from 2002 to 2007. From 2007 to 2009, she served as UNCTAD’s Acting Deputy Secretary-General providing strategic direction and oversight to the organization. Since 2009 she has been Director at the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States. Ms. Puri has a Bachelor of Arts (honours) from Delhi University and a Master of Arts in humanities from Punjab University in India. Born in 1952, she is married and has two daughters..