The ICRC Directorate

Pierre Krähenbühl is Director-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), a position he assumed in April 2024. As head of the ICRC's executive body, he is responsible for steering the organisation's global humanitarian activities and its 18,000 staff in more than 100 countries, with a yearly budget of over USD 2.1 billion.

Mr Krähenbühl has dedicated more than 30 years to the humanitarian sector, including 25 years in prominent roles at the ICRC in delegations and at headquarters. His previous leadership appointments at the ICRC include director of operations (2002-2014) and personal adviser to the President of the ICRC (2000-2002). Mr Krähenbühl also carried out various operational assignments in El Salvador, Peru, Afghanistan, and Bosnia and Herzegovina (1991-1998); and as head of operations for Central and South-Eastern Europe, based in Geneva (1998-2000).

Immediately prior to holding the Director-General position, Mr Krähenbühl was secretary-general to the Assembly at the ICRC (2023-2024). He served as the personal envoy of the ICRC President to China and head of regional delegation for East Asia (2021-2023). In 2014 he was appointed as commissioner-general and under-secretary general of the United Nations at UNRWA (2014-2019).

He holds an MA in political science and international relations from the University of Geneva and Graduate Institute of International Relations.

Yasmine Praz Dessimoz is the Director of Operations for the ICRC as of 1 September 2024. She joined the ICRC in 1997 and has since held multiple roles in challenging and conflict-affected regions.

Yasmine’s career with the ICRC has seen assignments in Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, the former Yugoslavia, Iraq, and Sudan. From 2008, Yasmine served as the Deputy Head of Operations for the West and Central Africa region and was later appointed as the Political Adviser to the Director of Operations. Between 2012 and 2016, Yasmine was the Regional Director for North and West Africa.

Her responsibilities in these roles included context analysis, strategy shaping and action definition, priority setting, security and human resources management, and ICRC representation towards various stakeholders.

Following this, she became the Director of Social Welfare at the Hospice Général in Geneva, overseeing a staff of 800 and supporting over 25,000 welfare recipients. Yasmine holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economic Science and an Executive Master’s in International Negotiation and Policy Making from the Graduate Institute in Geneva, Switzerland.

Marc Rivers joined the ICRC on 1 April 2024 with an outstanding record of senior-level leadership, financial management, risk and compliance. With more than 30 years of experience, he has worked in various complex industries, notably as CFO of Fonterra Co-operative Group and as Divisional CFO at Roche Pharmaceuticals, and including appointments in China, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, Thailand, and the USA. Prior to commencing at ICRC Marc served as President and Chief Financial Officer of Bridgewest Perth Pharma and chaired the Finance and Audit committee of Te Whatu Ora (Health New Zealand), New Zealand's national health system.

Marc earned a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies and a Masters of International Business from the University of South Carolina, USA. He is married and has three adult sons.

Olivier Ray was appointed to head the ICRC’s new department, Mobilization, Movement and Partnerships, in February 2022, and officially started his mandate with the board of Directors in July 2022. 

Before joining the ICRC, Mr Ray was the senior adviser for global affairs to French president Emmanuel Macron, leading on multilateral issues (UN, G7 and G20), global health and environment, humanitarian issues, development and human rights. He has worked for the French ministries of foreign affairs (in the policy-planning and foresight division) and social affairs and health (as diplomatic adviser to the minister). He also held various positions at the French Development Agency, including head of the crisis prevention and post-conflict recovery unit, director for Lebanon and Syria, and regional director for the Middle East.

Mr Ray holds a master’s in international relations from Columbia University, a master’s in public affairs from the Paris Institute of Political Studies, and a B.Sc. in international relations from the London School of Economics. He is the co-author of Africa's Moment (2011, initially published in French in 2010) and Le Grand Basculement: La Question Sociale à l'Échelle Mondiale (2011), as well as many articles on international development.

Mr Ray is married and the happy father of three children.

Claire Hoang Sperandio joined the ICRC in 2019 as deputy director for the human resources (HR) department, where she oversaw several centres of expertise (talent acquisition and attraction, career, learning and development, people analytics and HR risk assurance) and designed the People Strategy 2020–2025.

Ms Hoang Sperandio has over 25 years of HR experience gained in both the private sector and international organizations, where she held several senior HR positions. Her expertise lies in HR partnerships, talent management, leadership development and coaching.

Ms Hoang Sperandio is a Swiss–French citizen of Vietnamese descent. She holds a master’s degree in management and business administration from NEOMA Business School and a professional coaching certification from Henley Business School.

Nils Melzer was appointed as the ICRC's director of international law, policy and humanitarian diplomacy in 2022. He previously worked at the ICRC from 1999 to 2011, both as a delegate in the field and as a legal adviser in Geneva.

Before joining the Directorate, he served as the United Nations special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (2016–2022); senior security-policy adviser to the Swiss ministry for foreign affairs (2015–2016); and vice-president of the International Institute of Humanitarian Law (2019–2022).

An affiliate professor of international law at the University of Glasgow, he has held the Swiss chairs for human rights and for international humanitarian law at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. He was a senior fellow and programme adviser for emerging security challenges at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy and was research director at the University of Zurich’s Centre for Human Rights.

Valérie Abrell Duong is a game-changing and visionary leader in IT and digital transformation with extensive international experience in the humanitarian field as well as health care, retail and consumer goods. She started at Procter & Gamble in software development and then focused on new business models and pioneering e-commerce and digital marketing for global brands such as Pampers, Gillette, SK-II and Ariel.

In 2009, she took a broadening assignment at HP as a disruptive innovation consultant to large accounts. In 2010, she returned to Procter & Gamble as the head of IT and digital for Europe, the Middle East and Africa and built digital scale to competitive advantage. In 2016, Ms Abrell Duong joined Sanofi as the IT vice-president for digital and innovation, as well as chief investment officer for diabetes and cardiovascular. She promoted new ways of working, injecting an entrepreneurial spirit to advance technology and data-driven innovations such as multichannel marketing services, patient-support programmes and digital therapeutics. Since 2021, she has served as an adviser and business angel for start-ups in health care, tech and sustainability.

Ms Abrell Duong joined the ICRC in April 2022 and joined the Directorate in July 2022 of as director of support and digital transformation. She has a M.Sc. in electrical engineering and computer science from CentraleSupélec. She strives to create a collaborative and stimulating environment in which people are free to express their creativity, be bold and make an impact.