Ari Gaitanis has more than 20 years of experience in the communications arena. He is currently based at UN Headquarters in New York, where he serves as the Chief of the News Services Section in the UN Department of Public Information.His 12 years with the world body have seen him serve in a range of roles and locations. At UN Headquarters, these include: the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General (during both Kofi Annan’s and Ban Ki-moon’s terms), the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the UN Department of Public Information.In the field, his experience includes service with the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) as its spokesperson and the deputy director of its communications section during the country’s most recent elections; heading the communications unit of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER); the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the immediate aftermath of the Israel-Hizbollah war of 2006; the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) in Thailand; the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), during its start-up phase; the UN Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials (UNAKRT) in Cambodia, during the start of its historic first trial; and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Somalia, during the country’s famine.Before joining the United Nations, Ari spent 11 years working as a journalist, in television and print media, in Australia, Mexico, Spain and the United Kingdom. He has a Master of Arts in War Studies from the University of London. In his youth, he was known to memorize annual film compendiums.