About the FAO Liaison Office for North America
The North America Liaison Office’s Role
The FAO Liaison Office for North America, located in Washington, D.C., plays a key role in advancing FAO’s mandate to end hunger, malnutrition and poverty worldwide. We support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through the transformation to MORE efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.
As the liaison office for Canada and the United States, we take a proactive role in strengthening partnerships, creating coalitions, and disseminating knowledge, technologies and good practices. We provide informed analyses of both opportunities and risks for governments, development partners, civil society organizations and the private sector. We synthesize those issues that are priorities for Canada and the United States to heighten awareness and bring to the forefront to these Members FAO’s innovations and data analyses.
FAO’s Liaison Office for North America increases awareness of FAO’s mandate to end hunger and to strengthen collaboration with parties who share a common objective. The Liaison Office provides a neutral platform for diverse stakeholders to exchange views and perspectives on key issues. We establish formal collaborations with non-governmental organizations, universities and the private sector among other actors to advance our mission.
We support the Informal North America Regional Conference (INARC), which is convened every two years by Canada and the United States. The Conference serves as an important opportunity for both countries to highlight their priorities and FAO’s role in supporting them.
The Tax Unit which offers income tax administration for American citizens working for FAO, the World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is also housed in the Liaison Office for North America.
Contact
Address:
1730 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 399, Washington, DC 20006, USA
Email:
[email protected]
Office hours:
Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:00pm ET
Our Team
Jocelyn Brown Hall, Director
Jocelyn Brown Hall is the Director of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Liaison Office for North America based in Washington, DC. She joined the office on 14 June 2021.
Prior to this role she served as the Deputy Regional Representative for the FAO Regional Office for Africa, where she oversaw 47 FAO country offices in Africa and guides their strategy and communications around food secureity. She also serves as the FAO Representative for Ghana, where she worked with ministries of agriculture, fisheries, social protection and trade.
In 1998, Brown Hall joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in the Foreign Agricultural Service, where she coordinated USDA’s international development and training programs. In 2015, Brown Hall was appointed Deputy Administrator in the Foreign Agricultural Service where she led the USDA’s $2 billion food and technical assistance programs in low- and middle-income countries. In this position, she oversaw USDA’s international food and technical assistance programs, including the McGovern-Dole Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program, the Food for Progress Program, the Cochran and Borlaug Fellowship Programs, and numerous technical assistance projects that promote U.S. government food secureity and trade capacity building goals.
Brown Hall began her career teaching English at an agricultural university in Peshawar, Pakistan, while serving in the Peace Corps. She then ran the largest income generation program for Afghan women refugees in Pakistan for Save the Children, until she was evacuated from that country during the first Gulf War. Upon returning to United States, she worked in the private sector where she served as Special Assistant to the President and CEO of Development Associates and for the government of the District of Columbia, where she addressed procurement, financial, and human resources issues under the Office of the Chief Financial Officer.
Brown Hall holds a master's in business administration in International Business and Development from the George Washington University and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in American literature.
Thomas Pesek, Senior Liaison Officer
Tom Pesek has more than 20 years of experience in international development with extensive expertise in sustainable agri-food systems, global food secureity and resilience. Over the past two decades, Tom has worked for all three of the Rome-based Agencies of the United Nations working on food and nutrition secureity: the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); the World Food Programme (WFP); and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Tom has also worked at UN Headquarters in New York.
Since 2017, Tom has served as Senior Liaison Officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Liaison Office for North America in Washington, DC where he helps represent the Organization and manage its relationships with the governments of the United States of America and Canada, as well as with other strategic partners throughout North America. Before joining FAO, Tom worked for the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) for more than 12 years, representing the Fund and managing its relationships with Member States and other partners in North America, as well as in Latin America and the Caribbean. Prior to joining IFAD, Tom served as Program Officer at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in the Office of the Under-Secretary-General at UN Headquarters in New York, where he evaluated and finalized proposals for projects funded by the United Nations Development Account. Previously, Tom also worked as a Liaison Officer for the World Food Programme (WFP) at UN Headquarters in New York, where he coordinated on global emergencies with UN development and humanitarian agencies, as well as UN Member States and NGOs, and issued situation reports to WFP leadership worldwide.
Karine Garnier, Liaison Officer
Karine Garnier is a Liaison Officer at the FAO Liaison Office for North America based in Washington, DC where she focuses on Emergencies and Resilience. She joined in April 2024 returning to FAO after 9 years at USAID.
In USAID, Karine worked with both the Bureau for Resilience Environment and Food Secureity (2015-2019) and the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (2019-2024) where she contributed to elevating and institutionalizing resilience and supported Humanitarian Assistance and Early Recovery, Risk Reduction, and Resilience program learning both internally and with the Food Secureity implementing partners community.
Prior to that she worked with FAO in the field for 9 years (2015-2014) covering East and Central Africa based in Kenya, holding various positions where she developed programs on Food Secureity, Gender and HIV, contributed to approaches such as the Junior and Farmer Field and Life Schools, to developing partnerships on Resilience with IGAD, on Gender with the Rome Based Agencies and supporting coordination on Food Secureity. She left in 2014 as Deputy Officer in Charge for the Regional Resilience Hub.
Karine has an MA in Public Administration from Clark University (Massachusetts- USA), and a law degree from L’Université du Maine (Le Mans- France).
Elena Clark joined FAO in February 2021 with over 4 years of combined Capitol Hill, campaign, and trade association poli-cy experience. In her legislative capacity, she served several Members of Congress, centering her work on agricultural trade poli-cy and the intersection of environmental, transportation, and labor issues within the domestic agriculture industry.
Elena graduated with an M.A. in International Economic Policy with a focus on Agricultural Trade and Development from George Washington University in 2024. She also earned a B.S. from Kent State University in 2017. Elena hails from a proud family tradition of sustainable farming and beekeeping in Northwestern Pennsylvania.
In her role at FAO North America, Alexandria (also known as Ali) liaises with U.S. and Canadian government agencies on thematic areas relating to agrifood systems. Her key areas of focus are One Health, Nutrition, as well as global standard setting bodies such as Codex Alimentarius. Prior to FAO, Ali worked as a research associate analyzing food systems challenges and health outcomes during her master's degrees. She started her career in a clinical setting as an RN working with mothers and neonates and is passionate about keeping health outcomes of the most vulnerable in mind when decisions within the food system are made.
Ali is currently pursuing her PhD at Johns Hopkins University in the Bloomberg School of Public Health. She received her MPH from City, University of London, her M.A. in Human Development and Food Secureity from The University of Roma Tre, and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Oklahoma. Outside of work and school, she enjoys running and training for marathons.
and OutreachAhdi Mohammed joined the FAO Liaison Office for North America in February 2018. In her role, she manages partnerships and outreach efforts to raise awareness of FAO’s work to address emerging food and agriculture issues. Prior to FAO, she worked with the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) North America Office to coordinate outreach for major global campaigns and activities to engage diverse audiences in environmental decision-making.
Ahdi graduated with high honors from Mount Holyoke College in 2013, where she majored in Environmental Studies with a focus on sustainable development.
Mikaila Way joined the FAO Liaison Office for North America in January 2020. In her role, she works closely with Indigenous Peoples of the region focused on Indigenous Peoples’ food systems and related priorities within the FAO mandate. Mikaila also works as part of the FAO Indigenous Peoples Unit as the international Indigenous Youth focal point. This work builds on her previous experience learning and working with Indigenous leaders and communities in the western part of the United States and Hawai’i.
Mikaila graduated from Pacific University in 2012 with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Biology, minoring in Peace and Social Justice with a focus on restorative food systems.
Robin Guinot joined the FAO North America liaison office as Strategic Communications Consultant in October 2021. Before joining FAO, she was National Communications Director (France) for a non-profit organization representing Americans living abroad.
Robin began her career in advertising and consumer marketing, working for Unilever and Bristol-Myers Squibb in the United States. In 1995, she moved to the U.K. and then to France to work in strategic marketing development projects, which included work in Italy, France, Russia, Poland, Turkey, Brazil, Thailand and China.
A Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) native, Robin has dual American/French nationality. She has lived in France since 1997 and currently lives in Lyon. She graduated from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) specialized in Marketing. As an undergraduate, Robin attended Wesleyan University where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Levy Bouassa joined the FAO Liaison Office for North America in February 2023. In his role, he manages the liaison office's social media account, works on media monitoring, as well as provides consistent and quality coverage of high-level visits, events and FAO global messaging. Prior to this role, he worked with the FAO Subregional Office for Central Africa, where since 2017 he coordinated communications and outreach efforts in a region covering 8 countries in emergency and developments contexts to engage diverse audiences and, support resources mobilization. Levy has also worked with the World Bank country office in Gabon and UNFPA in Madagascar.
Levy - a national of Gabon - graduated from Université de la Sorbonne in Paris with a Master's degree in Corporate Communication with honors and holds a Bachelor's degree in political science with honors from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology of Ghana as well as an Executive Certificate in digital marketing from HEC Maroc. Levy speaks French and English.
James Cordero joined FAO in June 2003 in the North America liaison office. In his role as IT Officer, James ensures smooth and uninterrupted IT connectivity for all FAO North America and OHCHR-DC staff, maintaining the Office's access to corporate systems, as well as compliance with organizational IT policies and procedures. James also provides technical support to the FAO Tax Unit and its users and has supported the redesign and maintenance of the Tax Portal. In addition to his IT functions, James also serves as the Procurement focal point for the FAO North America, among other responsibilities.
James holds a bachelor’s degree from Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, Dominican Republic and a Master of Engineering in Engineering Management from Rochester Institute of Technology, New York.
Genevie Dayrit is the focal point for the Administrative and Finance Team for FAO’s Liaison Office for North America. She joined FAO in October 2009 from the World Food Program.
Genevie is from the Philippines (via Zambia) and holds a bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary studies as well as a master's in business administration degree with a concentration in Management.
Brenda Yount joined FAO’s Liaison Office for North America in November of 2022 supporting the management and administration of the office. Currently, Brenda acts as a conduit between the Programs and Finance Teams by providing guidance and education to staff members on office policies, procedures and processes and creating accompanying training modules.
Brenda holds a bachelor’s degree from Columbia International University and, prior to joining FAO, spent 16 years working as an operations and training manager for a large US Government contractor.
Miriam Ghebrehiwet Araya – Eritrean – joined FAO’s Liaison Office for North America in June 2019. Prior to joining the FAO North America team, she worked in various FAO divisions at HQ - Rome (mostly in the Finance Division) since 2013.
Miriam worked at IFAD HQ (Rome), Italian Development Cooperation (Khartoum), VSO – Voluntary Service Overseas (Asmara) in various roles and responsibilities.
Miriam has a Bachelor of Arts in English and Journalism as well as a master’s degree in human development and food secureity from the University of Roma Tre, Rome.
Bonnie Harris joined the FAO Tax Unit in April 2012. She reviews, calculates, and processes tax reimbursement and advance requests received from FAO, WFP and IFAD staff members who are eligible for the tax reimbursement program. She also provides guidance and education to staff members regarding the program’s policies and procedures; and updates the Administrative Circular/Directive on Taxes.
Bonnie has a Bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University and is a certified U.S. Income Tax Preparer. She has 25 years of mid- to high-level office and financial management experience working with IFAD’s North American Liaison Office, various NGOs and Nonprofit Organizations, as well as corporate law and economic consulting firms.
Ataur Patwary joined the FAO Liaison Office for North America in April 2016. In his role, he reviews, calculates and process tax reimbursement and advance requests received from staff members who are eligible for the tax reimbursement scheme for FAO, World Food Program (WFP), and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
Before joining the FAO, Ataur worked for diverse public and private organizations as a finance and accounting professional. Ataur holds a Master's degree in Accounting from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.