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I NTERNATIONAL

ICT at the United Nations

Interview with

Atefeh Riazi

Chief Information Technology Officer,
Assistant Secretary-General,
Office of Information and Communications Technology,
Department of Management.

She is one of the few female Assistant Secre- Q: Going from the private sector to a
taries-General in the United Nations, but has high position in the United Nations Sec-
much responsibility on her shoulders. Before retariat, what do you perceive as the
taking up her functions at the UN, she had ac- main differences and challenges?
quired wide-ranging experience in the public I am fortunate that my career has spanned both the public
and private sectors, focusing on organizational and private sector. I actually started in government. My
change involving large departments in chal- first job out of college was as an electrical engineer for the
lenging environments to deliver vital business Metropolitan Transit Authority of New York City, where I
transformation through the use of innovation was eventually appointed Chief Information Officer. Pri-
or to joining the United Nations, I was Chief Information
and technology. Since she took up her present
Officer of the New York City Housing Authority. As for
office, she has prepared a five-year Information
the private sector, I served as global Chief Information
and Communications Technology Strategy, fo-
Officer of Ogilvy & Mather, the international advertising
cusing on transforming the organization's ICT
and marketing company. In each position, I was respon-
landscape. This ICT strategy was approved by
sible for using technology and innovation to transform
the General Assembly on 24 December 2014
how these organizations conducted their business. These
and entails transition of locally provided serv- were all large organizations and each presented its own
ices related to hosting, application and web- challenging environment. I think those experiences
site development and support, and a help desk prepared me well for the challenge I face now, which is
into an ICT Enterprise Delivery Framework to responsibility for the substantive and operational ICT
ensure that core services are provided to staff needs of the United Nations.
members throughout the organization more
efficiently and effectively. It ensures that ICT Q: There are very few female CIOs/CTOs
activities correspond and comply with stand- in the world today. What is your advice
ards, satisfy governance requirements, are se- to young women who want to pursue a
cure and resilient, represent best practice, and career in the high technology field?
most importantly are delivered as proposed in I was born in Iran, and when I was growing up, although
the ICT strategy. The General Assembly also my family believed in equal opportunities for girls and
acknowledged the responsibilities and the im- boys, society kept putting pressure on the girls that they
portance of the strong central leadership of the should study to become teachers or nurses. And those are
Chief Information Technology Officer for the wonderful careers to have. However, early on I decided
overall direction and performance of informa- I wanted to be an engineer. That's why today I'm in the
technology space. I'm here because I believe technology
tion and communications technology activi-
is the way out for many of the issues that women confront
ties within the organization. Despite her heavy
and have to deal with. And that's truer today than ever
work load, much stress and the responsibility
before. So, if you are a young woman who loves technol-
on her shoulders, she is always a pleasant per-
son to meet and took the time to reply to our ogy, and if you have the drive and commitment necessary
to pursue and to achieve your dream, the most important
questions. Here is our interview with Ms Riazi.
advice I can give you is this: believe in yourself and in

4 DIVA - INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMAT