Maimunah Mohd Sharif


Maimunah Mohd Sharif is the Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme. From January 2019 to January 2020 she also concurrently served as the Acting Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi.
She holds the rank of Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations in the UN System and sits on the United Nations Chief Executives Board for Coordination and the Secretary-General's Senior Management Group.
Prior to her appointment to UN-Habitat, Sharif was the Mayor of Penang Island, Malaysia. Before her appointment as Mayor, she had served as the President of the Municipal Council of Seberang Perai from 2011, the first woman to be appointed to the position.

Family, early life and education

Maimunah Sharif was born in Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, on 26 August 1961. She attended the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology and graduated with a Bachelor of Science with honours in Town Planning Studies. She also holds a Master of Science in Planning Studies from the Malaysia Science University.
She is married to Adli Lai they have two daughters.

UN-Habitat

On 22 December 2017, the United Nations General Assembly elected Maimunah Sharif as the Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme UN-Habitat. She was appointed by the UN Secretary General António Guterres for a four-year term.
On 22 January 2018, Sharif assumed her post at UN-Habitat's Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.
at the United Nations Office at Nairobi in July 2019
In January 2019 Maimunah Mohd Sharif was designated as the Acting Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi following the appointment of her predecessor, Hanna Tetteh, as Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union in Addis Ababa.

Honors and awards