UNESCO Appoints Audrey Azoulay as Director-General

UNESCO has appointed Audrey Azoulay of France as Director-General.

Ms Azoulay was nominated on 13 October to take the place of outgoing Director-General Irina Bokova (Bulgaria) by UNESCO’s Executive Board.

Born in 1972, Ms Azoulay was France’s Minister of Culture and Communication from February 2016 to May 2017. She occupied senior positions in France’s public broadcasting sector and then served as rapporteur to France’s public auditing authority, the Cour des Comptes, and as a European Commission legislative expert on issues of culture and the media.

Ms Azoulay served France’s National Cinema Centre (CNC), first as Deputy Audiovisual Director, then as Director of Financial and Legal Affairs, and finally as Deputy Director-General.

“I now think of all the people I met in recent months, or had met in my various professional capacities, who have great expectations from UNESCO,” said Ms Azoulay to the General Conference. “I think of UNESCO’s mandate, which is strikingly modern. I think of all of you who are aware of the difficulties of the organization but who know that it is irreplaceable, that it is essential, in facing current global challenges and who aspire to the unity and serenity necessary to let it exercise its mandate to best effect.”

Ms Azoulay, a graduate of the Ecole National d’Administration and the Paris Institut d’études politiques, holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the University of Lancaster in England.

Ms Azoulay is the 11th Director-General of UNESCO and the second woman to occupy this position. She will take office on 15 November.

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