News

Senior management changes announced at UNEP-WCMC

UNEP-WCMC's strategic partnership with its parent organization has been reaffirmed today, as two senior UNEP staff join our Management Team.

Neville Ash has been appointed to the position of Director of UNEP-WCMC, and Corli Pretorius as Deputy Director. Both will join the Centre in April.

Neville Ash transfers from the UNEP Division of Environmental Policy Implementation (DEPI), where he holds the position of Deputy Director, based in Nairobi. In this post, Neville is responsible for oversight of DEPI’s programmatic work on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, Disasters and Conflicts, Environmental Education, Poverty and Environment, for coordinating UNEP’s overall work to address the illegal trade in wildlife, and supporting the management of DEPI staff in 23 locations around the world. 

Prior to this post, Neville spent four years in DEPI as the Coordinator of the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Branch and Chief of the Biodiversity Unit, having joined UNEP from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Switzerland. For several years, he was the Head of the Ecosystem Assessment Programme at UNEP-WCMC.

Corli Pretorius joins the Centre from UNEP in New York, where she represents UNEP in the UN inter-agency processes, including contributing to the work of the UN System Task Team on the post-2015 Agenda and its working groups. Corli has significant experience both within UNEP, working as the Executive Assistant to the Executive Director, Achim Steiner, and outside where she has worked with IUCN, the World Commission on Dams, and for the private sector.

Maxwell Gomera, Deputy Director, is assuming a new Director position in UNEP. Maxwell Gomera, who has worked at the Centre since 2010, has played an integral role in strengthening our unique partnership with UNEP, ensuring that the work of the Centre supports UNEP and is embedded in its Programme of Work. We will continue working with Maxwell in his new position as Head of UNEP’s Biodiversity and Ecosystems Branch, based in the DEPI.

The current Director of UNEP-WCMC, Jonathan Hutton, is leaving the Centre at the end of February to take up the position of Director of the Luc Hoffmann Institute. Jon Hutton has led UNEP-WCMC for the past ten years and achieved considerable success for the Centre during that time. Under his leadership, engagement with governments and other partners has strengthened, demand for the Centre's services has significantly increased and the number of staff has trebled.

His inspirational leadership will be greatly missed by all those at the Centre and we wish him every success in his new role as Director of the Luc Hoffmann Institute.

The Centre wishes to thank Jon and Maxwell for their contribution and we are delighted to welcome Neville Ash and Corli Pretorius to UNEP-WCMC.

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