The UK organisation for the business of Open Technology

Salem Avan is currently the Director of Policy Strategy and Governance Division for ICT at the United Nations, whose goal is to enable the UN Secretariat to deliver effectively on its mandate through the secure, responsible and innovative use of data, information and technology.

Salem oversees technology, leading strategy formulation, business intelligence, data and analytics, technology innovation, strategic solutions as well as policy and governance. Innovation plays a critical role in moving the UN forward and is most effective when it engages partners to cocreate solutions that support the 2030 agenda for sustainable development and organisational mandates. Salem works to bring together the UN with entrepreneurs, social and data scientists, Member States, and the private sector, to articulate, design, and develop solutions to some of the world’s most complex challenges.

Prior to this, he led cybersecurity at the UN and in previous position, was responsible for information technology for peace operations, the largest department of the United Nations. Having joined peacekeeping in 1994 during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia and served in various places including Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq, Western Sahara, Sierra Leone, Eritrea and Ethiopia for the United Nations as well as for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and in the Special Court for Sierra Leone.