Neil began his university education in the relatively new International Relations Programme at the University of Windsor in 1978, graduating with an Honours BA in 1982. He then moved to Ottawa and did a Masters’ at the Norman Paterson School of International Relations at Carleton University. From there he joined the North South Institute in May 1984 before beginning with the United Nations Development Programme in October 1984 as a Junior Professional Officer in Sri Lanka. That was the beginning of a 37 year career with the United Nations.
Through his years with the UN, Neil focused on helping it better serve people through work at the country level. Most recently, he was the Regional Director, Asia-Pacific for the United Nations Development Coordination Office based in Bangkok, starting up and leading an office that provided oversight and support to 24 UN Resident Coordinators and UN Country Teams in the region; after concluding 4 years in Pakistan as United Nations Resident Coordinator/Humanitarian Coordinator and Designated Official for the Safety and Security of Staff. He also served as UNDP Resident Representative for his first 3 years in Pakistan. He was UN Resident Coordinator/Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP RR in Sri Lanka from 2007 to 2011 during the last years of the 30-year civil conflict.
Before that he was UN RC and UNDP RR in Bulgaria from 2003 to 2007, and RC/RR in Belarus from 1999 to 2003, as well as Acting RC and UNDP Resident Representative/Deputy Resident Representative in Malaysia from 1995 to 1999. He began his UN career with UNDP in Sri Lanka, and then in Sudan, Bhutan, and Pakistan. He led UNDP’s engagement with the humanitarian and peace-building communities as Director of UNDP’s Geneva office from 2011 to 2015 and helped set up an inter-agency unit that supported and reviewed humanitarian responses. In this team he was part of missions to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Philippines, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria. Turkey and the Central African Republic.
Neil’s work at the senior management level of the United Nations has involved him in a wide range of the UN’s work at the country level, including crisis management, the links between development and humanitarian programming and human rights, environment and climate change adaptation & mitigation, human development, the effects of radiation (from the Chernobyl disaster) on people and the environment, community development, urban issues, information and communication for development, among others. He has facilitated workshops for country teams and the UN regional team.
He retired from the UN on 31 December 2021.
Neil is a Canadian from Windsor where his parent still live. For the last 4 years he is also a Swiss national. He is married to Sonja who worked for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Sudan and Pakistan. He has two sons who are graduates of the Geneva Graduate Institute for International Affairs and Development.