Ursula Wynhoven is a lawyer with 24 years of experience, the last 16 of which have been with the United Nations. She is the Representative to the United Nations in New York for the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and Head of its UN Affairs Division and NY Liaison Office. The ITU is the UN’s specialized agency for information and communication technologies committed to connecting the world wherever people live and whatever their means. She works at the intersection of technology and development, promoting digital inclusion and the use of ICTs for sustainable development.
Prior to joining the ITU, Ursula worked with the UN Global Compact, the UN’s corporate sustainability initiative, as its Chief, Social Sustainability, Governance and Legal, where she led legal affairs, and developed and led programming on social sustainability and governance issues, spearheading initiatives such as the Women’s Empowerment Principles, Children’s Rights and Business Principles, and Business for the Rule of Law. Before joining the UN, Ursula worked for the OECD on its corporate responsibility initiative, for government human rights agencies, and for law firms in Australia and the US.
She has been an Adjunct Professor of Corporate Sustainability, Business and Human Rights at Fordham Law School for 13 years. She has Master of Laws Degrees from Columbia University, where she was a Human Rights Fellow, and Monash Law School, as well as Bachelor’s degrees in Law (Hons), Economics and Letters. She is a Trustee of the Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law at Columbia Law School.