Meet the team - North America

Administration and Fund Management Officer

Arshia Chander is a multilingual and has Masters Degrees in French language and Business Administration from India and USA respectively. She currently manages the Administration and Funds for the UN Environment Programme's (UNEP) North America Office in Washington, DC. She also serves as the Human Resources (HR) liaison officer. Prior to joining UNEP, she worked…

Finance and Budget Assistant

Churchill has over 7 years of experience in finance, budget, accounting, administrative services , grants and project management. He has worked with both UNON Financial Reporting Unit and UNEP Global Environmental Facility Coordination Unit as a Finance and Budget Assistant. He has assimilated extensive knowledge of and insights into various financial processes…

Programme Assistant

Clayton Adams is currently a Programme Assistant at the UN Environment Programme's (UNEP) North America Office, where he has worked in varying capacities since 2001. Among his current duties, he handles outreach to the executive branches of the national governments in the region, civil society organizations and the private sector, as well as provides general…

Regional Coordinator

Hilary French is the Regional Sub-Programme Coordinator for Chemicals and Pollution Action and Finance and Economic Transformations at the United Nations Environment Programme’s North America Office. Hilary previously served as the office’s regional coordinator for climate change and as a special advisor to the organization on a broad range of issues, including…

Information Officer

Laura Fuller heads communications for the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in North America. She is responsible for conveying UNEP’s core scientific and environmental development messages, as well as global advocacy campaigns, to all stakeholders, partners and media in Canada and the United States. She leads the effort to raise awareness on priority and emerging…

Regional Coordinator

Maria Morgado joined the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 2013 and is currently the regional coordinator for Climate Change and Nature at the North America Office, based in Washington D.C. Her work focuses on terrestrial, coastal and marine ecosystems, promoting and facilitating partnership building between UNEP and North American institutions and…

Executive Assistant

Maureen Ng’ang’a is the Executive Assistant to the Regional Director of the UN Environment Programme North America Office. She has recently been with the United Nations Human Settlement Programme as a Programme Management Assistant in the donor relations unit and has vast experience in donor fundraising, public information, donor intelligence, website and…

Regional Director and Representative, Regional Office for North America

Rafael Peralta is the Regional Director of the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) Regional Office for North America in Washington since 1 July 2023. Rafael has served as Chief of Staff of UNEP since April 2021, having previously worked as Acting Chief of Staff since 2019. He joined UNEP in 2018 as Deputy Chief of Staff. Rafael has over 20 years’…