Our team

The UNDP Thailand team consists of 67 staff members; 63 are Thai nationals and 4 are from other countries: France, Mauritius, Norway, and Sudan.

The academic and professional background of the team includes communications, government affairs, law, international development, social and political science, business, environmental science, forestry, providing a wide range of skills and expertise to support the implementation of the UNDP Programme.

Leadership

Renaud Meyer, Resident Representative

Renaud Meyer started his assignment as UNDP Resident Representative to Thailand on 26 March 2019, coming from Nepal where he was the UNDP Country Director since January 2015.

Prior to that, Renaud served as Senior Deputy Country Director for UNDP Afghanistan from November 2012 to December 2014. UNDP Country Director in the Philippines from August 2008 to October 2012 and Deputy Country Director of UNDP China from August 2004 till August 2008.

Before serving UNDP in Asia, Renaud served four years in Headquarters as the Special Assistant to the UNDP Associate Administrator in the Executive Office in New York from 2002 to 2004 and as Special Assistant to the Director of the Bureau for Development Policy starting in 2000.

Renaud started his UNDP career as a Programme Officer (JPO) in Lebanon in 1998. Before joining the United Nations, Renaud Meyer worked in Tunisia for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A French citizen, Renaud Meyer holds a Master’s in International Relations and Development Studies from the University of Strasbourg and graduated from the Institut D’Etudes Politiques of Strasbourg. He also completed a one-year programme of studies at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington D.C., U.S.A.

Follow Renaud Meyer on Twitter: @renaudmeyer

Irina Goryunova, Deputy Resident Representative

Irina, a proud citizen of Kazakhstan, possesses a wealth of experience accumulated over 20 years, with a notable 13-year tenure at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Her journey includes pivotal roles, such as serving as a Country Programme Specialist at the UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub (BRH), where she provided critical programmatic and management support to UNDP Country Offices in the Pacific sub-region.

Before her BRH assignment, Irina dedicated a decade to the UNDP Country Office in Kazakhstan. Here, she showcased her versatile expertise by leading the entire Programme Unit and overseeing the SDG portfolio and SDG Financing agenda. Her leadership extended to the Management and Programme Support Unit, where she provided strategic support for enhanced programme quality assurance, project implementation, resource management, and communication and partnership functions. Notably, Irina's commitment to gender equality earned her recognition as a UNDP country office Gender Champion, culminating in the Silver Gender Equality Seal certification for the Kazakhstan Country Office in 2020.

Throughout her career, Irina has worked in and cultivated invaluable collaborations with other UN Agencies, various Non-Governmental Organizations and Development actors, as well as the private sector, consistently focusing on critical issues like climate change and clean energy.

Her academic background includes two bachelor's degrees (International Relations and Law) from Kazakhstan, a dual master's degree in environmental science and policy from Manchester University and Central European University (Hungary). Irina further enriched her knowledge with intensive coursework in natural resources management from the University of California, Davis, USA.

Follow Irina Goryunova on Twitter: @goryunovaundp