A Call to Action on Methane:

On 13 April 2017, the Secretary-General appointed Ms Olga Algayerova of Slovakia as the next Executive Secretary of the UNECE. She took office on 1 June 2017.

Ms. Algayerova brings to the position a combination of leadership and diplomatic skills with deep knowledge of the region with its challenges and opportunities and a strong focus on building and nurturing partnerships among key stakeholders with the United Nations.

Prior to her appointment, she served as Permanent Representative of Slovakia to the International Organizations in Vienna, Austria (since 2012). She was previously President, Slovak Millennium Development Goals (2010-2012); State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2006-2010) and Corporate Export Manager, Zentiva International, a.s. (2004-2006).

Born in 1959, Ms. Algayerova holds a Master in Contemporary Diplomacy from Malta University, a Master in Business Administration from The Open University Business School, United Kingdom and a Dipl. in Engineer of Economy from the University of Economics Business Faculty, Bratislava.

On 12 July 2017, Ms. Olga Algayerova was sworn-in by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. António Guterres.

Joe Goffman is the current Acting Assistant Administrator of the Office of Air and Radiation (OAR) at the EPA. He returned to OAR after initially serving from 2009 – 2017 as the Associate Assistant Administrator for Climate and Senior Counsel, where he provided policy and legal counsel on a wide range of climate policy and Clean Air Act regulatory and implementation issues and rulemakings. Joe has also previously served as the Executive Director of the Environmental and Energy Law Program at Harvard Law School where he led a team of attorneys and communications specialists providing information and analysis to stakeholders, government decision makers and the media, and offering innovative responses on emerging issues in the areas of federal, state and municipal energy and electricity law and environmental and administrative law as well as in selected areas of corporate law. Joe also worked on the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works as the Democratic Chief Counsel and Majority Senior Counsel. He holds B.A. and J.D. degrees from Yale University.

Vicki Hollub is President and Chief Executive Officer of Occidental. She has been a member of Occidental’s Board of Directors since 2015.

During her 35-year career with Occidental, Ms. Hollub has held a variety of management and technical positions with responsibilities on three continents, including roles in the United States, Russia, Venezuela and Ecuador. Most recently, she served as Occidental’s President and Chief Operating Officer, overseeing the company’s oil and gas, chemical and midstream operations.

Ms. Hollub previously was Senior Executive Vice President, Occidental, and President, Oxy Oil and Gas, where she was responsible for operations in the U.S., the Middle East region and Latin America. Prior to that, she held a variety of leadership positions, including Executive Vice President, Occidental, and President, Oxy Oil and Gas, Americas; Vice President, Occidental, and Executive Vice President, U.S. Operations, Oxy Oil and Gas; Executive Vice President, California Operations; and President and General Manager of the company’s Permian Basin operations. Ms. Hollub started her career at Cities Service, which was acquired by Occidental.

Ms. Hollub serves on the boards of the American Petroleum Institute and Lockheed Martin. She is the chair of the U.S. Secretary of Energy Advisory Board and the U.S. chair for the U.S.-Colombia Business Council. Ms. Hollub is also a member of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative and the World Economic Forum, where she serves on the stewardship board for the Platform for Shaping the Future of Energy and Materials. A graduate of the University of Alabama, Ms. Hollub holds a Bachelor of Science in Mineral Engineering. She was inducted into the University of Alabama College of Engineering 2016 class of Distinguished Engineering Fellows.

Environmental Defense Fund president Fred Krupp has guided EDF for three decades, overseeing its growth from a small nonprofit to one of the world’s most influential environmental organizations, with more than 750 employees in the United States, China, Mexico and Europe and an annual budget of more than $200 million.

As a leading voice on climate change, energy and corporate sustainability, Krupp appeared on the TED stage in 2018 to announce plans to launch MethaneSAT, a satellite that will measure and map planet-warming methane emissions from the oil and gas industry worldwide. In 2016, he played a role in the adoption of the first major bipartisan environmental legislation in two decades, the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act, by a House vote of 203-12 and a voice vote in the Senate.

Krupp has pioneered innovative approaches to harnessing the power of the marketplace to protect the environment and has led EDF’s groundbreaking corporate partnerships with FedEx, KKR, McDonald’s, Walmart and others. Most recently, he helped GM develop its plan to sell only zero-emission vehicles by 2035.

Educated at Yale and the University of Michigan Law School, Krupp appears frequently in the media. He was named one of America’s Best Leaders by U.S. News and World Report and is a recipient of the 2015 William K. Reilly Environmental Leadership Award from the Center for Environmental Policy at American University. Krupp is co-author with Miriam Horn of the New York Times bestseller Earth: The Sequel – The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming.

David Newman lived in Europe and the Middle East until 2016 when he returned to the UK.

He was the Executive Director of Greenpeace Italy 1994-1997 after many years as a volunteer; from 1999 until 2014 he led the Italian composting and biogas association CIC and he led the Italian Bioplastics Association from 2011 to 2015.

From 2012 to 2016 he was President of the International Solid Waste Association. During this time (2012-13) he was personal advisor to the Italian Minister of Environment, Andrea Orlando.

David founded and leads the Bio Based and Biodegradable Industries Association UK since 2015 as well as the European Circular Bioeconomy Policy Initiative; both work in the UK and EU to promote the bioeconomy.

He is President of the World Biogas Association since November 2016.

He is a member of the Resources and Waste Stakeholder Advisory Group at DEFRA and a chartered member of the CIWM.

His e-book "Everything is Connected, understanding a complicated world" was published in September 2020.

Helen Ryan is the Associate Assistant Deputy Minister of the Environmental Protection Branch within Environment and Climate Change Canada. She is responsible for leading the development and implementation of the Department’s clean air regulatory agenda, GHG regulations, environmental emergencies, contaminated sites and disposal at sea, waste disposal and management, as well as the plastics agenda.

Prior to Helen’s appointment in September 2018, she was the Director General of Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Energy and Transportation Directorate heading the development and implementation of regulations and standards to reduce air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation, oil and gas, and electricity sectors. She has over thirty years of experience in the public service at the federal, provincial and municipal levels, including 17 years as a federal executive in ECCC and Health Canada.

Helen and her partner have five children. She is an avid cyclist, cross-country skier and enjoys time spent in the outdoors.

Dr. Drew Shindell is Nicholas Professor of Earth Sciences at Duke University. From 1995 to 2014 he was at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York. His research group is particularly focused on quantifying the impacts on human health, agricultural yields, climate and the economy of policies that might be put into place to mitigate climate change or improve air quality. He has been an author on >275 peer-reviewed publications, received awards from Scientific American, NASA, the NSF and the EPA, and is an elected fellow of the American Geophysical Union and American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has testified on climate issues before both houses of Congress (at the request of both parties), developed a climate change course with the American Museum of Natural History, and made numerous media appearances as part of his outreach efforts. He is chair of the Scientific Advisory Panel to the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) of nations and organizations. He chaired the 2011 Integrated Assessment of Black Carbon and Tropospheric Ozone from UNEP, was a Coordinating Lead Author on the 2013 Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC and on the 2018 IPCC Special Report on 1.5°C and chaired the 2021 Global Methane Assessment: Benefits and Costs of Mitigating Methane Emissions from CCAC/UNEP.

Mechthild Wörsdörfer (@MWorsdorfer) joined the IEA on 1 October 2018 as Director of Sustainability, Technology and Outlooks (STO). Ms Wörsdörfer plans and co-ordinates the IEA’s work on energy sustainability, encompassing clean energy technologies and climate change policy. Previously, Mechthild held several senior management positions in the European Commission, where she coordinated the work on the 2030 Energy and Climate Framework, the Clean Energy Package and the 2050 Energy Roadmap. She had been involved with the IEA for a number of years as IEA Governing Board Representative for the EU, and served in the Cabinet of Commissioners, in charge of industry, competitiveness, trade and digital economy.