Gillian Sorensen

Gillian Sorensen is the former United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for External Relations. Sorensen currently works with groups and organizations committed to peace, justice, development, refugees, and human rights. She recently addressed the National Model United Nations (NMUN) (March 2018), attended by students from over 130 countries.[1]

Gillian Sorensen

Sorensen currently serves as a Member of the Board of the International Rescue Committee[2] and as a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Career

Sorensen worked for the United Nations Foundation from 2003-2013 as Senior Adviser and National Advocate on matters related to the United Nations and the UN-USA relationship.

Sorensen served in the United Nations as Assistant Secretary-General for External Relations, from 1997–2003, on appointment by Secretary-General Kofi Annan. She was responsible for outreach to non-governmental organizations and was the contact point for the Secretary-General with parliamentarians, the academic world, religious leaders and other groups committed to peace, justice, development and human rights.

From 1993–1996, Sorensen served as Special Adviser for Public Policy on appointment by Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali; her duties included directing the UN’s global 50th Anniversary observances in 1995. She led the planning of conferences, debates, documentaries, concerts and exhibits; the preparation of books and curricular materials, and the coordination of the UN50 Summit in which l80 Presidents and Prime Ministers participated.[3]

Sorensen earlier served from 1978–1990 on appointment by Mayor Edward I. Koch as New York City Commissioner for the United Nations and Consular Corps, head of the City’s liaison with the world’s largest diplomatic community.[4] Her responsibilities included matters related to diplomatic security and immunity, housing and education, and other cultural and business contacts between the host city and over 30,000 diplomats.[5] She secured Federal reimbursement to New York for the costs of diplomatic protection, which continues to this day.

As a role model to campus leaders for her activism, Sorensen was invited by the Millennium Campus Network (MCN) as a national keynote speaker and honored as a Global Generation Award winner alongside US Secretary of State John Kerry and fellow global leaders at MCN events in 2011.[6]

Personal life

Sorensen grew up in Michigan, the daughter of parents who were active in politics and civic affairs.[7]

She is a graduate of Smith College and studied at the Sorbonne.[8] She has twice been an Institute of Politics Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Previously, she served on the Board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting on appointment by the President of the United States. In addition to her public service, she has been active in politics and was a delegate to three national Presidential conventions.[9]

Gillian Sorensen is the widow of Theodore C. Sorensen, who served as President John F. Kennedy's speechwriter and Special Counsel to the President in the White House. They are the parents of a daughter, Juliet Sorensen.[10]

Notes
  1. "National Model United Nations".
  2. "IRC Board and Overseers".
  3. Pacque, Peter (April 5, 2004). "Public forum to address U.N.-U.S. relationship". Richmond Times-Dispatch.
  4. Jonathan Soffer, ““Mayor Edward I. Koch and New York’s Municipal Foreign Policy, 1977‒1990,” in Another Global City: Historical Explorations into the Transnational Municipal Moment, 1850‒2000, edited by Pierre-Yves Saunier and Shane Ewen (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), pp. 127-128.
  5. "Lucia Mouat, "Diplomats' den mother: She's '911' for New York City's UN community". Chicago Tribune, December 19, 1989".
  6. Shanahan, Mark; Goldstein, Meredith (September 20, 2011). "Dushku honored at Global Generation Awards". The Boston Globe.
  7. Mouat, Lucia (December 19, 1989). "Diplomats' den mother: She's '911' for New York City's UN community". Chicago Tribune. p. C1.
  8. "Happenings". The Gazette. March 25, 2004. p. 1D.
  9. "United Nations Foundation Senior Adviser to Speak on 'Controversy and Opportunity'". Kansas City infoZine. November 9, 2005. Retrieved December 13, 2010.
  10. "WEDDINGS; Juliet Sorensen, Benjamin Jones". The New York Times. August 20, 2000. Retrieved December 14, 2010.

References
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