Leadership
Leading the vision
The Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services is appointed by the Secretary-General, following consultations with Member States, and approved by the General Assembly for a non-renewable five-year term. The Under-Secretary-General assists the Secretary-General in fulfilling his oversight responsibilities in respect of the resources and staff of the Organization through the provision of audit, investigation, inspection, and evaluation services.
Ms. Fatoumata Ndiaye, Under-Secretary-General
Ms. Fatoumata Ndiaye of Senegal was appointed in October 2019 as Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services, Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) for a five-year non-renewable term.
Most recently Deputy Executive Director (Management) of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Ms. Ndiaye brings to the position more than 24 years of knowledge, hands-on experience and inter-agency work of the Organization in the areas of audit, investigations and evaluation, coupled with overseeing and coordinating human resources, finance, budget, information technology and administrative services and operations. She has made important contributions in leading organizational transformation initiatives in the United Nations.
Ms. Ndiaye joined the United Nations in 1995 and has served in various capacities, including as UNICEF's Director of Internal Audit and Investigations and Director of the Internal Audit Division, OIOS. She has been a member of a number of United Nations system inter-agency bodies, including the High-Level Committee on Management, Inter-Agency Standing Committee, United Nations Development Group, and High-Level Steering Group on Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse. Before joining the United Nations, Ms. Ndiaye was Chief, Management Advisory Services of Coopers & Lybrand, Senegal.
Ms. Ndiaye holds a Master of Business Administration degree from l'École Supérieure de Gestion des Entreprises, Senegal, and a postgraduate degree with specialization in auditing from l'Université Paris-Dauphine, France. She is fluent in English and French.
Mr. Ben Swanson, Assistant Secretary-General
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced on 7 July 2021 the appointment of Ben Swanson of the United Kingdom as Assistant Secretary-General in the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS).
Mr. Swanson joined OIOS in 2013, where he served as Deputy Director, based in Nairobi, until 2015. During that time, he held responsibilities in the management, oversight and quality assurance for cases in East and Central African peacekeeping missions involving fraud and corruption, serious misconduct and sexual exploitation and abuse. In 2016, Mr. Swanson was promoted to Director of the Investigations Division of OIOS based in New York where he was responsible for development of the Division’s strategic and operational plans as well as the overall management of some 89 staff.
Mr. Swanson’s service with the United Nations follows a 30-year career in UK Law Enforcement, where, in successively more senior roles, his work focussed upon investigations related to serious and major crime, fraud, money laundering and organized crime.
He holds a Master of Counter Fraud and Corruption Studies from Portsmouth University, a Bachelor of Laws degree from Northumbria University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Management from the University of Sunderland.