Richard Ragan joined Yemen as the Country Representative in February 2022. As a senior UN official, he’s served previously as WFP Representative in seven countries: Bangladesh, Libya, Liberia,Nepal, Tanzania, North Korea, and Zambia.
As Acting Assistant Secretary-General (ASG), he opened the Liberia Office and managed operations as part of the UN Secretary General’s Ebola Emergency Response Mission (UNMEER). Based in South Africa, he also served as WFP’s Deputy Regional Director covering the East and Southern Africa region and as the WFP Emergency Co-ordinator for the 2015 Nepal Earthquake Response. In addition to his public service career, he’s spent time in the private sector as a Senior Director with Vulcan, Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen's company.
He started his career in WFP as the Deputy Country Director in China and has also worked on complex emergencies in East Timor, Kosovo.
Mr. Ragan holds a Master’s degree in International Development/Administration from SIT, Brattleboro, VT, and a Bachelor’s degree in Business from Ole Miss, Oxford, MS.
His interests are mountaineering, backcountry/big mountain snowboarding, surfing, kiteboarding, scuba/free diving, painting. He’s done multiple expeditions both climbing and snowboarding in the Himalaya mountain range.
Richard is married and has three children.