Our Team in Micronesia

Mr. Tapan Mishra has been reassigned as the Resident Coordinator ad interim for the UN Multi-Country Office for Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Nauru and Kiribati from January 2025.
Mr. Mishra served as the United Nations Resident Coordinator (UN RC) for Mongolia from September 2019 to December 2024. As UN RC, the highest-ranking representative of the United Nations Development System in Mongolia, he had been designated by the UN Secretary General to lead the UN Country Team in coordinating operational activities for development in the country. For his distinguished service of over 5 years in Mongolia, he received the highest state honor for international citizens, the Medal of Friendship, ie: “Nairamdal”, from the President of Mongolia. He also received several other medals and awards in recognition of his extraordinary contributions in different areas.
Before his assignment in Mongolia, Mr. Mishra served as UN RC as well as UNDP Resident Representative in DPR Korea from June 2015 to August 2019.
Mr. Mishra first joined the UN system in 2003 as the UNDP Learning Advisor and Deputy Chief of the Learning Resources Centre (LRC) in the Office of Human Resources, Bureau of Management where he moved up to become the Director and Chief of LRC from 2007 to 2013. Thereafter, he served on numerous assignments as Senior Advisor at the Business Solutions Exchange, supporting Country Offices as well as Offices in Headquarters including the Human Development Report Office, and the Bureau of Policy and Programme Support till 2015 when he was appointed as UN RC.
Prior to joining the UN, Mr. Mishra worked in India both in private and public sector organizations. He started his career in 1984 as a human resource professional in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (erstwhile Burmah Shell Co.), where he was the Head of Industrial Relations for the Northern Region in India. He then became the All-India Training Manager in Mumbai and finally an Internal Coach for Organizational Learning and Change Management. He also served at Infosys Leadership Institute as a Faculty Member and at Grow Talent Co. Ltd in Gurgaon as Vice President (Consulting).
A Management Postgraduate from XLRI, Jamshedpur, a premier Business School in India, Mr. Mishra has also been active in academia through teaching HR Management at leading institutions in India, like NMIMS in Mumbai and at Columbia University, School for International and Public Affairs (SIPA) in the United States.

Alpha Bah is WFP’s Country Director for the Pacific Multi-Country Office based in Suva, Fiji. In the Pacific, WFP works towards improving the capacity of Pacific Island Countries and Territories to reduce risk of, prepare for, and respond to disasters with a view of building a more resilient Pacific Community. Since joining WFP in 2000, he has been stationed in several countries including North Korea, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Italy, Senegal, Kenya, UAE, and Bangladesh, responding to and supporting several high-profile emergency missions around the world.

Prior to joining WFP, Alpha worked for UNDP and for the private sector as a network engineer. Prior to his assignment in the Pacific, Alpha was the Deputy Country Director for WFP in Bangladesh with overall responsibility for operations and support services for WFP’s development and humanitarian assistance programs. He had also previously served as WFP’s Chief of IT Emergency Preparedness and Response, responsible for managing WFP’s IT emergency team and leadership of the global Emergency Telecommunication Cluster (ETC).

Ms. Andie Fong Toy was appointed Head of the ESCAP Subregional Office for the Pacific, effective 1 August 2022.
Ms. Fong Toy brings over thirty years of experience in the Pacific. She previously served as Legal and Political Advisor, International Legal Advisor and Director, Political and Security Programme at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat before being appointed as its Deputy Secretary-General. In this capacity, she oversaw political and security, economic governance, and trade policy issues, including economic integration and reform in the Pacific.
In her more recent capacity as Labour Mobility Advisor for the Australian Pacific Training Coalition, Ms. Fong Toy provided strategic advice to countries of the Pacific on ways to optimize labour mobility and produce the best employment outcomes.

Andrea Sandoval Baez journey with the United Nations began in 2009, during which she has gained extensive experience across various roles in missions including Afghanistan, Thailand, Colombia, and Papua New Guinea. She has worked with key UN agencies such as UNFPA, UNAMA, and UNDP, focusing on HR, administrative support, and program management.

Andrea's experience includes managing complex logistical operations, volunteer management and mobilization, coordinating with UN agencies, supporting emergency evacuations, and contributing to country and regional priorities. She holds a Master’s degree in Modern Languages and Teaching.

Ms. Bidisha Pillai is the Director & Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Pacific Island Countries, a position she assumed in March 2025.Ms. Pillai brings over 30 years of leadership and expertise in advocacy, strategic partnerships, programme management, and policy influence. Previously, she served as UNFPA’s Representative in Liberia, where she led efforts to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equality, and youth empowerment.

Before joining UNFPA, Ms. Pillai held multiple leadership positions, including as Global Policy, Advocacy, and Campaigns Director at Save the Children International, where she spearheaded global advocacy initiatives. She also served as the Chief Executive Officer of Save the Children India, leading a team of 400 professionals and overseeing large-scale development programmes across the country.

Earlier in her career, she worked with the UK Department for International Development (DFID) in India, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and various civil society organizations, focusing on child rights, gender equity, and public health.

Over the years, Ms. Pillai has consistently delivered impactful results at scale, especially by fostering strategic partnership with governments, local communities, and other key stakeholders including the private sector and media. Through a collaborative approach, she has facilitated collective ownership, optimized resource utilization, and enhanced programmes and policies through technical assistance.

She is a passionate advocate for women and children's rights, quality education for all, gender equity, ending violence against women and children, and ensuring access to sexual and reproductive health rights for all.

Dr. Wendy Snowdon was appointed Officer in Charge for FSM, Marshall Islands and Palau in February 2025. She also serves as the Country Liaison Officer for the WHO Office in Kiribati, a position she has held since February 2021. A public health specialist, Dr. Snowdon has significant experience in health promotion and chronic disease prevention throughout the Pacific. Prior to her current role, she led the Pacific Noncommunicable Diseases (NCD) and Health through the Lifecourse team at WHO's Division of Pacific Technical Support in Fiji from 2015 to 2021, focusing on NCD risk factor reduction and management.

Before joining WHO in 2014, Dr. Snowdon coordinated the Pacific Research Centre for the Prevention of Obesity and Noncommunicable Disease (C-POND) at Fiji National University and Deakin University. She also worked with the Secretariat of the Pacific Community on NCD initiatives. Dr. Snowdon holds a BA in Nutrition and Dietetics, two MAs in Health Promotion & Health Education and International Public Health, and a PhD in Food Policy.

Eri Taniguchi joins the UN Women Fiji MCO with over 16 years of experience in gender equality and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) across development and humanitarian settings. Since joining UNFPA in 2011, she has worked in Mongolia, Somalia, Iraq, and Myanmar, leading gender equality and GBV programming as well as inter-agency coordination mechanisms.

Most recently, Eri served as the Gender Equality/Gender-Based Violence Programme Specialist at UNFPA Myanmar from 2019 to 2025, where she played a pivotal role in ensuring access to quality GBV services during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent political crises. She also expanded partnerships with civil society and women-led organizations. From 2022 to 2023, she acted as the Deputy Representative for UNFPA Myanmar.

Before her UN career, Eri worked with a non-governmental organization in Nepal and at the Royal Thai Embassy in Japan. A Japanese national, she holds a Master of Philosophy in Development Studies from the University of Oxford. In her spare time, Eri enjoys reading, traveling, and exploring diverse cuisines.

Mr. QU joined FAO headquarters in 2019 as Special Adviser to the Director-General and was subsequently appointed Deputy Directeur de Cabinet in the Office of the Director-General.
Prior to joining FAO, he served consecutively as Deputy Chief of Mission in the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Bangladesh and in New Zealand, 2013-2019. From December 2020, he has been serving as Director, FAO Liaison Office with the United Nations in New York (LON). He was appointed by the Director General as FAO Subregional Coordinator for the Pacific Countries in February 2025.

Mr. QU started his career in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China, and held increasingly senior positions on Arms Control and Non-Proliferation at home and abroad. He was posted in The Hague, Netherlands, and in Vienna, Austria, then served as Director of the Department of Arms Control and Disarmament, Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Mr QU holds a Master of Arts in World History from Nankai University, and a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Anhui Normal University in China. He was also a Visiting Fellow at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California, United States.

Heike Alefsen has almost 30 years of human rights, legal, political and development work experience with the United Nations, the Council of Europe and civil society. Until 2020, she was Senior Human Rights Adviser to the UN Country Team in Bangladesh and to the UN Development Group Asia-Pacific in Bangkok.

Jayvee is the Regional Coordinator for the Pacific for ASYCUDA, the largest UNCTAD technical cooperation programme. He has 20+ years experience in customs automation and modernization working in 20 country projects in Asia-Pacific. Jayvee’s office currently supports 12 Pacific countries and territory.

Mr Jinhua Zhang assumed the position of Senior Coordination Officer, UNEP Pacific Office as of 1 January 2024.

A national of China, Mr Zhang has extensive experience in UNEP particularly in the Asia-Pacific region where he has worked for the last 19 years. Prior to this role, he was Regional Sub-programme Coordinator responsible for the implementation and delivery of the UNEP Science-Policy foundational programme in Asia and the Pacific. With an educational background in land resources inventory and quantitative land evaluation, Mr Zhang has been working on integrated environmental assessment, environmental indicators, data, and information management, and building partnerships.

With this new role, Mr Zhang is based in UNEP Pacific Office in Apia, Samoa to coordinate UNEP work in the Pacific Region, covering Cook Islands, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

Mr. Jonathan Veitch, a citizen of the United Kingdom, was appointed to the position of UNICEF Pacific Representative in August 2021 and is based in Suva, Fiji. As the UNICEF Pacific Representative, he oversees UNICEF’s programmes and operations in Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Mr. Kevin Petrini has been working and living in the Pacific Islands for over 22 years, with 10 years living in the country of Samoa in Polynesia, and 10 years living in the country of Fiji in Melanesia and in October 2021, moved to the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the Micronesia sub-region. As such, he has worked and lived in all the three major sub-regions of the Pacific and is an expert in Pacific affairs and climate action.

Further, he has been on the frontlines of climate action in the Pacific for over 15 years bringing and accessing and implementing hundreds of millions of dollars in grants in the Pacific, leading climate policy development and supporting Pacific countries as they negotiate international climate agreements.

Most recently, Mr. Petrini was appointed as the Deputy Resident Representative and Country Manager for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) North Pacific office based in the state of Pohnpei where he leads the UNDP work across five countries: FSM, Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Kiribati and Nauru.

Mr. Petrini started his career in international development as a United States Peace Corps Volunteer teaching science and math in a rural village in Samoa from 1998 – 2000. He holds a Master’s degree in Science (Chemical Engineering) from the University of Colorado, Boulder where he studied atmospheric chemistry and a Bachelor of Science (Chemical Engineering) from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Mr Petrini is a citizen of the United States and Samoa and is married with three children.

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/KevinPetrini

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-petrini-62933b25

Ms. Marie Pegie Cauchois has worked for the UN since 2012, first in UN Peace Keeping operations in South Sudan, Afghanistan, Central African Republic and Somalia, she then joined UNODC in 2017 and worked in Myanmar as Anti-Corruption Programme manager. She is now Regional Anti-Corruption Adviser and manages the Anti-Corruption Project in 14 Pacific Island countries.

Salvatore Sortino is the Chief of Mission for IOM in the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Marshall Islands and the Republic of Palau. He represents IOM at the UN Country Team for the Micronesia Multi Country Office. He has worked with IOM since 2009, covering Chief of Mission roles in Liberia and Angola, and as Senior Emergency and Post Crisis Specialists in the East and Horn of Africa. Before joining IOM he worked for INGOs in South Sudan, Sudan and Algeria.

Tokumitsu Kobayashi is the Pacific SIDS Advisor who represents UNOPS to the Pacific. His most recent assignment was as the Director of the UNOPS Jerusalem Office. Before that, he worked with the Government of Japan, UNDP and JICA in several countries including Kenya, Thailand, Iraq and South Sudan. He holds a Master's degree in International Relations and a BSc in Engineering.