Secretary-General appoints Karla Robin Hershey of the United States as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Samoa

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Karla Robin Hershey of the United States as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Samoa, with the host Governments’ approval, on 26 April 2025. Based in Apia, Samoa, Ms. Hershey will head the Samoa Multi-Country Office and coordinate the UN development operations in Cook Islands, Niue, and Tokelau.   

Ms. Hershey brings more than 30 years of experience in development coordination, international relations, resource mobilization, change management and humanitarian affairs. She most recently served as the Resident Coordinator in Bhutan, and prior to that she was the Representative and Country Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) in Liberia. She has also held other senior-level roles, including United Nations Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Serbia and in Lesotho. With WFP, she was also a Senior Adviser on United Nations Reform in the USA, Representative and Country Director in Eswatini, Country Director ad interim in Syria, Deputy Country Director and Head of Programme in Malawi and Head of Resource Mobilization, Food Procurement and Pipeline Management in Tanzania. She started her career with the UN as a humanitarian affairs officer with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Angola. 

Prior to joining the United Nations, Hershey worked with international non-governmental organizations World Vision International in Angola and Rotary International in the United States after completing an assignment as a business advisor to the Ministry of Youth and Cooperatives in Rwanda as part of the USA’s Peace Corps volunteer programme.  

Ms. Hershey completed post-graduate coursework from the London School of Economics and Political Science in London, UK and holds a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) from the American InterContinental University in Atlanta, USA. She also has a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, USA and completed university coursework from Oxford University in Oxford, UK.