At the Conference

Ms. Savelli brings more than 18 years of experience with the United Nations, where she has held various positions in management, programme/policy, external relations and communications. She most recently served as the World Food Programme (WFP) Representative and UN Resident Coordinator ad interim in Senegal.  

Her career with the United Nations began in 2002 with the UN Refugee agency (UNHCR). In 2003, she joined WFP, successively for the offices in Zambia, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Thailand, Sri Lanka, China, and Headquarters in Rome. Between 2013-2017, she served as a Political Affairs Officer in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General in New York covering Latin America, West Africa and Northeast Asia as well as humanitarian issues, human security, disarmament and the Women, Peace and Security agenda. 

Ms. Savelli holds a Master’s degree in International Law from Lund University and a Master in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law from the Raoul Wallenberg Institute (Sweden). 

Source: https://unsdg.un.org/latest/announcements/secretary-general-appoints-lena-savelli-sweden-un-resident-coordinator-ecuador

Blake Ratcliff is a member of the U.S. Foreign Service, working in Embassy Quito’s Consular section. Quito is his first post, and he will serve next in Tbilisi, Georgia. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Blake was a Research Associate with the Stimson Center’s Environmental Security Program, where he researched and formulated policy to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing around the world. He also spent eight years as the U.S. Acquisitions Editor for international law and national security at Oxford University Press, and completed a Title VIII Embassy Policy Specialist fellowship on expanding renewable energy in Azerbaijan. Ratcliff is from Long Island, NY, and holds a master’s degree in international affairs from The Fletcher School at Tufts University, a law degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law, and a bachelor’s degree in Russian Area Studies from Dartmouth College. He speaks Spanish, Russian, and French.