Our Team in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam

A national of the United States of America, Robert Gass is the UNICEF Representative to Malaysia and Special Representative to Brunei Darussalam. He has held previous leadership roles with UNICEF in Indonesia (Deputy Representative, Programme), Brazil (Chief of Semiarid Territory), Thailand (Chief of HIV/AIDS), and UNICEF Headquarters in New York (Paediatric HIV Treatment Focal Point). Prior to joining UNICEF, Robert had previous work experience with the New York State Department of Health in performance measurement and quality improvement, and the United States Peace Corps in Togo, West Africa.

Mr. Gass was born and raised in India, and then pursued a university degree in International Studies at Macalester College, a Master’s degree in International Development from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, and a subsequent Master’s degree from the Columbia University School of Public Health.

Dr. Julitta took up this position in June 2024. Prior to her current position, she was the Director of the Technical Division, UNFPA Headquarters. Julitta was Director of UNFPA's East and Southern Africa Region, where her leadership contributed immensely to resource mobilization efforts, partnership development and strengthening with regional actors, aligning the countries of the region behind a common Africa position on ICPD25. Since joining UNFPA in 1995, and again in 2001, Julitta has held several positions both at UNFPA headquarters and at country level; serving as Technical Adviser and Special Assistant to the Executive Director and as UNFPA Representative in Tanzania and the Republic of South Africa. Julitta holds a Master of Community Health in Developing Countries degree from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery degree from the University of Zambia, and a Bachelor of Science in Applied Biology degree from the University of London.

Dr Rabi Abeyasinghe is the WHO Representative to Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Singapore. Prior to that, he was the WHO Representative to the Philippines. He was acting Director Health Security and Emergencies at the World Health Organizations Regional Office for the Western Pacific (WPRO) based in Manila, Philippines from 30th April 2020 to 21st June 2020, supporting the regional response to COVID-19.

He was Coordinator, Malaria Other Vectorborne and Parasitic Diseases at WPRO from 2015 – 2019 and has served WHO since 2011 in various capacities including acting Director Communicable Diseases WPRO (May to October 2018, May to July 2019), Regional Entomologist WPRO and Technical Officer Malaria in Papua New Guinea.

Rabi is a Medical Specialist MD (Community Medicine) from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Additionally, he has a MSc in Biology & Control of Disease Vectors from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and a Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Hygiene from the Royal College of Physicians, London. Earlier he held several senior positions in the Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka including Director National Malaria Control Programme and Project Director, GFATM Projects.

He is a Fellow of the College of Community Physicians of Sri Lanka and a past President of the College of Community Physicians of Sri Lanka.

Dr. Unni Karunakara was International President of Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) from 2010-2013. He has been a humanitarian worker and a public health professional for more than two decades, with extensive experience in the delivery of health care to populations affected by conflict, disasters, epidemics, and neglect in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. He was Medical Director of the MSF’s Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines (2005-2007) and co-founded VIVO, an organisation that works toward overcoming and preventing traumatic stress and its consequences. Karunakara serves on the Board of Directors of Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) India and MSF Holland.

Dr Karunakara was a Senior Fellow of the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs at Yale University from 2014-2017. He has held various academic and research fellowships at universities in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Germany and the United Kingdom, focusing on the demography of forced migration and the delivery of health care to neglected populations affected by conflict, disasters and epidemics. Karunakara served as the Deputy Director of Health of the Earth Institute, Millennium Villages Project (2008-2010), and was Assistant Clinical Professor at the Mailman School of Public Health (2008-2017), both at Columbia University. Karunakara is a Visiting Professor at Manipal University.

Patricia Ongpin is the UNAIDS Country Director of the multi-country office covering Cambodia, Lao PDR and Malaysia since June 2022.

Ms Ongpin is an international development and public health specialist with over 15 years of experience spanning across Asia, Africa, and Europe. As a strong advocate for equality and leaving no one behind, she has a rich background in coordinating evidence-based decentralized programmes that focus on inclusiveness, partnership, and sustainability.

Ms Ongpin was most recently the Regional Fast Track Advisor for the UNAIDS Regional Support Team in Asia and the Pacific. Prior to this, Ms Ongpin served in UNAIDS in different positions in Namibia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and headquarters.

Ms Ongpin is a national of Canada. She holds a Master’s Degree in International Relations, and Bachelor’s Degrees in Economics and International Relations.

Benedikt Hofmann took up his functions as UNODC Deputy Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific based in Bangkok, Thailand, in September 2023. Prior to this, he was UNODC’s Head of Office in Myanmar, responsible for all UNODC programming and operations in the country. Previously he served in the Office of the Director, Division for Operations, in UNODC Vienna headquarters, where he focused on strategic programme planning, enhancing UN partnerships, and strengthening impact of UNODC field operations around the world. Before that, he supported UNODC’s programme development and management in Eastern Africa, as well as the Middle East and North Africa region.

In 2015 and 2016, Benedikt was on an earlier assignment in the UNODC Regional Office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok, leading monitoring, and reporting on UNODC’s regional activities covering organized crime, illicit trafficking, as well as challenges related to drug abuse and terrorism. Before his time in Bangkok, he had served in various capacities with the UNODC Headquarters, covering programmes in Africa, the Middle East, as well as Afghanistan and the surrounding region. A national of Austria, Benedikt has been with UNODC for more than 10 years.

Christine Arab has dedicated over 25 years to advancing gender equality and women’s human rights within the UN System, working across Asia, the Pacific, the Arab States, the Caribbean, the Balkans and the Southern Caucasus.

Ms. Arab has served as a UN Women Country Representative in Egypt, the Multi-Country Office in the Caribbean, and the Albania Country Office. She has held the position of Chief of the Asia-Pacific Section at UN Women HQ and was an advisor on the Executive Director’s Transition team during the establishment of UN Women. Additionally, she has headed UN Women (formerly UNIFEM) offices in the Southern Caucasus and Afghanistan and has worked in former sub-regional offices and at HQ as a programme specialist for the Pacific, Asia, the Arab States, Central Asia and Europe. Ms. Arab has been a senior technical consultant to the UN in South Asia and Southeast Asia, focusing on strategic planning, partnership development and supporting the normative agendas on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Ms. Arab holds a Master of Arts in International Relations/Political Science from Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada.

Ms. Cynthia Veliko has worked across the UN system since 1999. She has served with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) since March 2006 as Human Rights Advisor in three countries – Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Philippines and was appointed in August 2017 as Regional Representative to OHCHR Regional Office for South-East Asia.

Prior to joining OHCHR, Ms. Veliko worked for five years at WHO for the Polio Eradication Initiative, supporting the global polio partners and governments and UNCTs in South Asia and Africa.

Mr. Fukuya IINO, Ph.D., MBA, Japanese national, and chemical and environmental engineer, has devoted his career to the industrial and institutional capacity building of the public and private sector in emerging economies. He currently holds the position of Industrial Development Officer in the Montreal Protocol Division at UNIDO Headquarters in Vienna, Austria. He has developed and managed more than 80 projects in more than 50 countries.

He has worked for UNIDO since 2010 as an Industrial Development Officer in the Stockholm Convention Unit and then Montreal Protocol Division. He has managed projects funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol.

Following his Ph.D. at the University of Tokyo in 1999, Mr. Iino started his career as a post-doctoral researcher at the United States Environmental Protection Agency, North Carolina, the USA (1999-2001) and then as a researcher at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (2001-2004), the largest national research institute of Japan.

Since 2016, Mr. Iino took several key initiatives at the Department of Environment of UNIDO. He led the development of the SDG Impact Investment Programme. Mr. Iino organized the first TEDx event at the Vienna International Centre (VIC). He is also a Gender Focal Point of the Montreal Protocol Division since 2022.

Joan Sawe joined the UNU as Director of Administration in October 2014. She brings extensive administrative and managerial experience from her prior positions, notably, she served as the Director of Administrative Services at UNFCCC in Bonn, Germany; Director of Corporate Services at the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) in Stockholm, Sweden; Director of Finance and Operations at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi, Kenya; as well as International Head of Financial Performance and Standards at ActionAid International in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Joan holds a MSc in Forensic Accounting from Sheffield Hallam University in the UK, an MBA with honors from Tel-Aviv International School of Management (TISOM) in Israel and a BBA with honors from Acadia University in Canada. She also is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

Ms. Kamala Ernest is a Programme Management Officer at the UNEP Asia and the Pacific Office. As the Coordinator of the SEA circular project, she spearheads efforts to reduce plastic waste across Southeast Asia, leading high-impact engagements with governments, businesses, and key partners to enhance the management of the plastic value chain and effectively reduce land-based plastic leakage into the marine environment.

With 20 years of progressive experience in sustainable development, Kamala has worked extensively with the private sector, governments, and the UN. Her career began in Malaysia and has since spanned Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. A Malaysian national, Kamala is currently based in Bangkok, where she continues to drive impactful environmental initiatives on a global scale.

Mr. Kishore Babu is a telecommunications professional with over 30 years of dedicated experience in various leadership positions in Telecommunications Policy; Development programs and projects; International Relations; Stakeholder engagement with National and International entities; Public Sector Functions

Ms Maki Katsuno-Hayashikawa brings extensive experiences of nearly 30 years with UNESCO, UNICEF and JICA, at global, regional, and country levels. She assumed her role as the Director of UNESCO Multisectoral Regional Office in Jakarta, and UNESCO Representative to Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Timor Leste in July 2023.

Prior to her current assignment, she served as the Director of the Division for Education 2030 at UNESCO Headquarters overseeing UNESCO’s global programmes on Gender and Inclusive Education, Higher Education, Education in Emergencies and led the global SDG4 coordination mechanism. In addition, during 2022, she served as the Executive Secretary of the Secretariat for the Transforming Education Summit convened by the UN Secretary-General in September 2022. Ms. Katsuno-Hayashikawa has spent much of her time in the Asia-Pacific region, operating out of Beijing and Bangkok, managing regional and country programmes on inclusive education, gender and education, ECCE, learning assessment to teacher education.

She holds Master’s degrees in Educational Planning from the Institute of Education, University College London, and in Early Childhood Education from the South Australia University; and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

For over 20 years, Mr Marco worked with the United Nations and other international organizations at the Headquarters and in the field in the areas of humanitarian relief, refugee protection, promotion and protection of human rights, justice administration, sustainable development and disaster risk management. He holds a degree from the University of Bologna, Italy.

Ms Panudda Boonpala is appointed Deputy Regional Director of the ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, with effect from 1 January 2018. Prior to that, Ms Boonpala has held the position of Director of the ILO Decent Work Team for South Asia and Country Office for India. Ms. Boonpala has been with the ILO since 1995, serving the ILO in Geneva, Bangkok, Dhaka and New Delhi.

Ms Boonpala holds an MA in Labour Administration and Management from the Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand.

A development professional by profession, Srinivasa Popuri has worked over 28 years in the field of human settlements advancing Habitat agenda. Of these, over 22 years with United Nations in several countries in Asia and the Pacific after his service over for 5 years with Government of India and International Organisations.

Since September 2012, he has been assigned as Senior Human Settlements Officer based in Fukuoka, Japan in overseeing programmes of UN-Habitat in Asia and the Pacific countries such as Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, India, Iran and Thailand.

Sylvie Betemps has worked for ITC for 19 year. She possesses experience in multi-country technical assistance for developing countries, including strong knowledge of external relations management with governments, country officials, private sector organizations, donors, enterprises, NGOs and aid agencies. She is specialized in project management and coordination, client relationship management, project development and design, trade-related technical assistance and private sector development.

With more than 20 years of experience in support services functions, Mr. Yann Kervinio was appointed as Director of WHO Global Service Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in April 2022. The Global Service Centre provides administrative services to WHO and its partner entities in the area of Finance, Payroll, Human Resources, Procurement & Logistics as well as Information Management and Technology.

He started his career in the private food sector where he occupied several procurement related positions in Germany and France. In 2011, he joined the UN Secretariat Procurement Division in New York, USA to support peacekeeping operations, after which he joined field operations in Entebbe, Uganda as well as in Bamako, Mali (to prepare the MINUSMA mission start up). In 2014, Mr. Kervinio joined UNOG in Geneva, Switzerland as Chief Procurement and was then promoted in 2018 to UNRWA in Amman, Jordan as Chief Central Support Services in charge of support functions for the Agency with field offices in Gaza, West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.