Annan appoints experienced US project manager to head up plan to refurbish UN

Secretary-General Kofi Annan today appointed an experienced architectural and health-care consultant and project manager as his Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director of the plan to overhaul the United Nations deteriorating New York Headquarters. Louis Frederick Reuter IV of the United States will succeed Toshiyuki Niwa of Japan, who left to join the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Mr. Reuter joins the UN Capital Master Plan (CMP) after playing a number of principal roles in architectural and health-care consulting firms and has had extensive planning and project development experience in the United States, the Middle East and South America.

He recently served as Executive Vice-President of Administration for the New York Presbyterian Hospital, during which time he was responsible for the rebuilding of the New York Weill Cornell Medical Center.

In May, Mr. Annan recommended in a report that the General Assembly accept a $1.2 billion loan offer from the US to implement the CMP to refurbish the deteriorating 50-year-old building. Mr. Annan also detailed a range of options under consideration to house UN staff during the renovation, now slated to kick off in 2007. Assembly negotiations on that proposal are ongoing.