Jan Egeland has been Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) since August 2013.
His humanitarian experience spans a wide range of prominent positions and roles, including his appointment in September 2015 by former UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, as Special Adviser to the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, with a focus on humanitarian access and protection of civilians.
His UN experience also includes the position of UN Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator (USG/ERC) between 2003 and 2006 and UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser in the 1990s.
During this period, he led international efforts in streamlining relief in large-scale, acute crises including the 2004 Tsunami in the Indian Ocean and the crises in Darfur and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He was also instrumental in developing the 2005 UN reform of the humanitarian system.
Mr Egeland’s extensive contribution to the humanitarian and diplomatic sector has included high level positions in Norway, where he was State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 1990 and 1997, Director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and Secretary General of the Norwegian Red Cross.
Mr Egeland holds a Master of Arts in Political Science from the University of Oslo and has been a Fulbright Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley.