Audrey Azoulay : pragmatic Administrator

Audrey Azoulay is a household name and current Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) since 2017. She was one of the nine candidates gunning to succeed Irina Bokova at the helm of the UN agency and after her election, her candidacy was approved by UNESCO’s General Assembly in November 2017.
Born on August 4, 1972, she is a French-Moroccan civil servant who studied Business Administration in the University of Lancaster and equally a graduate of the National School of Administration and Political Science, Paris, France. Audrey Azoulay also has a Master's Degree in Management Sciences from Paris Dauphine University. The UNESCO Director-General has, throughout her career, focused on the promotion of culture.
In 2014, she served as Cultural Advisor to the French President during which she developed a protection plan for endangered heritage, a plan she later implemented as Minister of Culture and Communication in France. Audrey Azoulay is known for having given preference to improving children’s access to culture with the launch of artistic/cultural education programs. At the helm of UNESCO, her action plan revolves around the promotion of education and cultural heritage. At the international scene, she played a key role in the joint initiative of France-UNESCO-United Arab Emirates to safeguard cultural heritage in conflict zones, announced in December 2016. On March 24, 2017, Audrey Azoulay presented the Draft Resolution 2347 put forward by France, Italy and UNESCO, on the protection of cul...