JAMAICA’S expertise in international affairs has been further recognised with the appointment of attorney Michelle Gyles-McDonnough as senior adviser on the transition team named at the weekend to prepare new United Nations Secretary General-designate António Guterres for his critical role as the world’s top diplomat.

Gyles-McDonnough was named to the transition team in the same week that she became the highest- serving Jamaican in the UN system, after being appointed United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) deputy assistant administrator and deputy regional director in Asia and the Pacific, resident in Bangkok, Thailand.

The transition team has been tasked with interacting with UN officials, member states and civil society to ensure an informed and smooth transition from the administration of Ban Ki-moon to Guterres, who assumes the leadership of the UN on January 1, 2017.

Gyles-McDonnough was recruited into the public service as legal attaché in the Embassy of Jamaica in Washington DC by then Ambassador to the United States Dr Richard Bernal. She has since served as advisor to the secretary general of the Organisation of American States (OAS) and has deep development experience within UNDP, including as UN Resident Coordinator for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam.

Asked to comment on Gyles-McDonnough’s elevation, Dr Bernal, who is now pro-vice chancellor, global affairs, at The University of the West Indies, described her as: “Intellectually gifted, politically astute and works incredibly hard, while being socially relaxed and engaging.”

He felt that her professional training in political science, law at Columbia, and her MBA from Harvard “is a solid foundation to which has been added the experience of working in bilateral, regional and multilateral diplomatic and development policy posts”.

“Living in the USA, Caribbean and Asia makes her ideally qualified to assist the incoming UN secretary general. In all of her stellar career she has remained a proud Jamaican and a family-centred person,” Dr Bernal said.

Gyles-McDonnough is married to Jamaican Ambassador Lorne McDonnough, former CEO of the Caribbean Development Fund. They have two children: 14-year-old Sydney and 10-year old Liam.

The other members of the transition team are: Kyung-wha Kang from the Republic of Korea (team chief); Melissa Fleming of the USA; João Madureira of Portugal; and Radhouane Nouicer of Tunisia.

—