Lisa M. Buttenheim

Ms. Buttenheim assumed her position as Assistant Secretary-General for Support Operations in the Department of Operational Support in January 2019, transferring from her role as Assistant Secretary-General for Field Support as part of the Secretary-General’s management reform. From 2010-2016 she was Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus, serving also as Deputy Special Adviser to the Secretary-General in his Good Offices mission there.  

Since joining the Secretariat in 1983, Ms. Buttenheim has gained extensive experience in political affairs and peacekeeping, field administration and management. From 2008-2010 she was Director of the Middle East and West Asia Division in the Department of Political Affairs and, from 2004-2007, Director of the Asia and Middle East Division in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. From 1997-2004 she was posted in Europe, initially as Senior Political Adviser to the Director-General of the United Nations Office in Geneva, followed by assignments as Director of the Office of the Special Envoys for the Balkans, Chief of Staff in the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo and Director of the UN Office in Belgrade. From 1989-1997 she served in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General. Her earliest positions were in the Office of the Under-Secretaries-General for Special Political Affairs in New York, and the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization in Jerusalem. 

Ms. Buttenheim holds a master’s degree in Middle East Studies and International Economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and English from Stanford University.