GILLIAN SORENSEN

Gillian Sorensen has had a long career with the United Nations including ten years as Assistant Secretary-General and as Special Adviser for Public Policy.   She worked closely with three Secretaries-General, with hundreds of diplomats and countless non-governmental organizations committed to peace, justice, development, human rights, refugee support and the rights of women and girls.    She was an eloquent advocate and public speaker addressing students, journalists, civic and religious leaders, journalists and military cadets at West Point and the Air Force Academy.   She has known ten US Ambassadors to the UN.  Gillian is a member of the United Nations Foundation’s Global Leadership Council.  A New York Times profile once referred to her as “The Diplomat’s Diplomat.”

At the start of her career she was the New York City Commissioner for the UN and Consular Corps, leading the city’s liaison office with 30,000 diplomats based in New York.  A graduate of Smith College, she has twice been a Fellow at Harvard, in 2002 and in 2014.  She serves on the Board of the International Rescue Committee and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.   

Gillian is active in politics and civic life as was her late husband, Ted.   They are the parents of a daughter Juliet, a former Peace Corps Volunteer and now a professor of law.