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Our team
Don Gressett joined UNDP as Washington Representation Office Director in October 2021 after 21 years at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
For the last 16 years, he held the post of Assistant General Counsel for Legislation and Policy—serving as lead attorney for the development and execution of USAID’s annual budget, as well as the drafting, negotiation, and interpretation of legislation impacting USAID programs and operations. Don also temporarily served as acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for Legislative affairs, as well as acting Assistant Administrator for USAID’s Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs. On multiple occasions, Don was also seconded to the United States Senate Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, where he drafted multiple aspects of appropriations acts and provided Congressional oversight of US-funded development programs. Prior to joining USAID, Don worked for the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) Rule of Law Initiative and served on active duty in the US Air Force as a judge advocate. Don holds a BA in history from Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, Massachusetts, as well as both an MA in Law and International Affairs and a JD from American University in Washington, DC.
Stefano Pettinato joined the UNDP Washington Representation Office as Deputy Director in November 2021 after 19 years with UNDP, most recently as Resident Representative in Bahrain.
Stefano has also served as UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in El Salvador and Belize, Regional Policy Adviser at the UNDP Regional Centre in Panama and Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean in New York, and Policy Adviser in UNDP’s Human Development Report Office in New York, where he co-authored the 2003 and 2004 editions of UNDP’s flagship Human Development Report. Before joining UNDP, Stefano served the Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank in Washington DC and as a senior research fellow at the Brookings Institution and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Stefano has also worked as a researcher at the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean in Santiago and at SWIFT in Brussels. He co-authored the book Happiness and Hardship: Opportunity and Insecurity in New Market Economies with Carol Graham (Brookings Press, 2002) and has published journal articles and book chapters on the political economy of poverty, inequalities, and subjective well-being, and on social security reform. He holds a BA and an MA in development and public economics from the University of Florence and an MA with concentration in international economics from the Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies.
Paolo Galli was appointed in February 2020 as UNDP Senior Partnerships Adviser, based in the UNDP Washington Representation Office, to manage UNDP’s work in advancing partnerships and collaboration with a range of DC-based partners, including the World Bank and IMF. Paolo’s 30-year development policy, partnerships, and regional experience with the UN system includes assignments as Senior Regional Adviser in UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Europe and Central Asia; Director of the Office of the UN Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development, Queen Maxima of the Netherlands; Director of UN and multilateral affairs in UNDP’s Bureau for External Relations and Advocacy; Deputy Director of UNDP’s Washington Representation Office; Director of the Office of the Deputy Secretary-General/Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General handling development, peacebuilding, political, and related matters; Senior Policy Adviser in the Office of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict; Cluster Chief for the Western Balkans in UNDP’s Bureau for Europe and Central Asia; Senior Program Officer, Private Sector Development, in the UNDP’s Bureau for Development Policy; Special Assistant of the Executive Director of the UN Office for Project Services; Assistant Resident Representative for Programs in Kabul, Afghanistan; and Country Officer for West Africa, United Nations Capital Development Fund. Prior to joining the United Nations, Paolo worked in the financial sector in London.
Sarah Jackson-Han rejoined UNDP Washington in August 2016 as Senior Adviser for Communications, Partnerships, & Policy. She has more than 20 years' experience in print, broadcast, online, and social media; strategic communications; partnerships; risk and reputation management; and speech, blog, and op-ed writing. A native Washingtonian, Sarah served most recently as Senior Communications Officer in the Gender Cross-Cutting Solution Area at the World Bank Group from 2013-2016, after working with UNDP from 2010-2013. Her regional expertise is in Asia and she holds honors degrees from Dartmouth College (US) and Cambridge University (UK).
Ebru Kuran joined the UNDP Washington Representation Office in December 2021 as Executive Associate. She worked previously at the UN Information Center in Washington after more than seven years with the World Food Program in Turkey, Italy, Jordan, and the WFP regional bureau in Egypt. Originally from Turkey, Ebru is a naturalized US citizen and has worked for the United Nations since 2003 in administrative, finance, human resources, procurement, public information, and partnerships positions.