Minh-Thu Pham

Minh-Thu Pham is Executive Director for Policy at the United Nations Foundation, where she develops and leads strategic initiatives to strengthen the UN’s ability to solve global problems and brings together governments, civil society and thought leaders to help reach global agreements. Over the last four years, she has led UNF’s effort to support the creation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She recently taught international policymaking at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School and has over 15 years of experience in foreign policy, international diplomacy, and fieldwork.

She served in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General for Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon as policy adviser in the Strategic Planning Unit, leading initiatives to strengthen the UN and improve relations between the U.S. and the UN. Minh-Thu has high-level experience delivering the MDGs, implementing the peace accord in Bosnia and advancing refugee and humanitarian causes in Ethiopia, Vietnam and Washington, DC. She has a background in documentary work and was once a crew photographer for the BBC series Planet Earth.

Minh-Thu is a fellow of the Truman National Security Project; was selected a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations in 2007; and serves on the Board of the Coalition for Asian-American Children and Families. She holds an MPA from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University and a BA in History from Duke University. She was born in Vietnam and lives in New York City.