Press centre
Portrait Gallery
Ayalew Abai - Comptroller
 |
| © UNICEF/NYHQ2008- 0705/Markisz |
| Mr. Ayalew Abai |
Full credit must be given - see below.
Mr. Ayalew Abai was appointed UNICEF Comptroller & Director, Financial and Administrative Management in May 2007. Prior to his appointment, he served as UNICEF Representative in Nigeria where he was responsible for the overall planning, coordination, development and implementation of a broad range of UNICEF programmes to improve the status of women and children in Nigeria.
Mr. Abai began his career with UNICEF in Ethiopia in 1980 as Assistant Programme Officer in charge of Supply and Programme Support. He was appointed Supply and Logistics Officer in Uganda in 1986 and served in this capacity until 1988. Mr. Abai served as Project Officer (Monitoring) in New York Headquarters from 1988 to 1992. From 1992 to 1995, he served as Assistant Representative in The Gambia with overall responsibility for managing UNICEF’s programme of Cooperation. Mr. Abai returned to New York in 1996 where he served, initially, as Programme Officer in Africa Section, and later as Senior Adviser to the Comptroller, providing advice and technical support in strategic planning and policy formulation. From 2001 to 2005, he served as Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa Region. In this capacity, he directly supervised regional advisory and technical services to 21 country offices in the areas of Emergency Programmes, Human Resources Management, Administration, Finance, Supply and Information Technology.
Prior to joining UNICEF, Mr. Abai held senior positions in both the private and public sectors in Ethiopia. During 1973-75 and 1977-79, he was a Senior Manager in two private companies dealing with import/export, shipping, clearing & forwarding. From 1975-77, he was an employee of the Ethiopian Food Corporation, Ministry of Industry where he served as General Manager and Division Manager in various food processing industries.
Mr. Abai is a national of Ethiopia. He obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Management (Distinction) from Haile Selassie I University, Ethiopia in 1973 and a Master of Public Administration degree from Harvard University, USA in 1996. He was also the recipient of the Littauer Fellow Award for academic excellence and leadership from Harvard University.
Image release - credit: © UNICEF/NYHQ2008-0705/Markisz. UNICEF photographs are available for use by bona fide news media organizations as part of reports or feature stories on UNICEF. Release permission is hereby granted for this purpose on the following conditions: Image content may not be changed by digital or any other means, except cropping. Image may not be archived in any format or distributed to a third party by any non-UNICEF entity. No other rights than those specified are either granted or implied. Thank you for your interest in UNICEF.
