Rajesh Mirchandani named new Chief Communications Officer at the United Nations Foundation

The United Nations Foundation today announced that Rajesh Mirchandani has been named the Foundation’s new Chief Communications Officer to lead the Foundation’s strategic communications work supporting the United Nations and UN causes. Mirchandani brings to the Foundation a wealth of experience communicating international issues to global audiences as an experienced BBC News journalist and broadcaster and, most recently, as Vice President of Communications and Policy Outreach at the Center for Global Development, a leading voice in innovative and critical thinking about international development.

“Rajesh Mirchandani is taking the communications helm at the UN Foundation at a pivotal time in world affairs when making the case for the United Nations, global engagement, and collaborative solutions is more vital than ever,” said Kathy Calvin, President and Chief Executive Officer of the UN Foundation. “Rajesh is a strategic and creative communicator who will help us engage global audiences in even more powerful and innovative ways at a time when communications tools and technologies are changing by the minute and audiences are hungry for smart and purposeful content.”

Mirchandani has over 20 years of global journalism experience with the British Broadcasting Corporation, including five years based in the U.S. He has covered a wide variety of stories and issues, from two U.S. presidential elections to the Haiti earthquake, global health security in the Horn of Africa to green energy investments in California. More recently, Mirchandani has helped the Center for Global Development navigate a redrawn political map, bringing the substance and relevance of the Center’s pioneering economics research to wider audiences. On a wide range of issues, he has helped bring hard evidence to heated political debates at a time when power and influence in the world are shifting, attention spans are shrinking, and the traditional consensus around international cooperation is fraying.

“For me the UN Foundation has always played a unique and powerful role,” said Mirchandani. “It connects individual action to global progress through phenomenal campaigns and alliances, as well as through mobilizing expertise to help advance UN priorities. At this critical time for human progress, I am excited to join the great team at the UN Foundation and its wider network of friends and influencers to support the UN and UN causes.”

In 2012, Mirchandani was awarded a graduate degree in public diplomacy from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Over the years, he has been a frequent collaborator of the UN as a moderator and commentator.

Mirchandani will join the UN Foundation in February and will be based in the Foundation’s Washington, D.C. office. He will lead a team of skilled communicators working to advance progress on important global issues.

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About the United Nations Foundation

The United Nations Foundation builds public-private partnerships to address the world’s most pressing problems, and broadens support for the United Nations through advocacy and public outreach. Through innovative campaigns and initiatives, the Foundation connects people, ideas, and resources to help the UN solve global problems. The Foundation was created in 1998 as a U.S. public charity by entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner and now is supported by philanthropic, corporate, government, and individual donors.