 Ambassador Thomas J. Miller Named as Next UNA-USA President
April 9, 2009. The United Nations Association of the United States of America announces the appointment of Thomas J. Miller as its new president. Tom Miller succeeds William H. Luers, who has served a distinguished 11-year tenure.
The United Nations Association of America (UNA-USA) is pleased to announce that Ambassador Thomas J. Miller will become president of the organization as of May 11, 2009. Miller brings 29 years of high-profile experience as a career diplomat in the US Foreign Service to his new role. His career includes ambassadorships to Greece and to Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as a Cyprus negotiator.
Most recently, Miller served as the chief executive of Plan International, a $650 million, 72-year-old international agency that focuses on improving children’s lives in developing countries.
“I’ve known Tom for over 20 years, and I believe that his experience and passion make him an ideal leader for the UNA-USA as it continues to strive to meet its important and relevant mission,” said Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering, co-chairman of UNA-USA.
UNA-USA President William H. Luers concurred: “I couldn’t be more pleased with the selection of Tom Miller, and I look forward to passing the baton and helping him in any way I can.”
As chief executive from January 2005 through January 2009, Miller was based at Plan International’s headquarters in London, where he was responsible for the coordination and management of all the agency’s operations in 49 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Miller spent 29 years in the US Foreign Service, working on policy issues in the Balkans, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. He began his career in Southeast Asia, serving in Thailand, where he focused on refugee issues. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Miller worked in the State Department on Middle East and North African matters, including the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. He also served as executive assistant to the President’s Middle East envoy. Miller was named ambassador to Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1999. During his two years in Sarajevo, he worked on postwar political and economic reconstruction as well as refugee and humanitarian issues.
Miller served at the US Embassy in Athens three times, including as US ambassador to Greece in 2001-2004. At the State Department in Washington and in Greece, he concentrated on counterterrorism, focusing particularly on domestic terrorism in Greece and security during the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. After receiving numerous State Department awards throughout his career, including the Equal Opportunity Award, the Cobb Award for Commercial Excellence, the Superior Honor Award five times and the Meritorious Honor Award, Miller retired from the Foreign Service in December 2004.
Miller has also taught university courses on international relations and diplomacy. He founded a Model United Nations program in Washington, DC, in 1993, a program that continues to flourish. He created a similar Model UN organization in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Miller initiated the Community Service Network for local and American volunteers at US embassies in Sarajevo and Athens and personally participated in rebuilding homes for war returnees in Bosnia and refurbishing buildings for refugees and disabled children in Athens. He also helped found the Athens chapter of Habitat for Humanity. He serves on the board of D.A.R.E. (a US-based antidrug organization) and other advisory boards. Miller is married to the former Bonnie Stern and has a daughter and a son.
“In my view, UNA’s vision and mission are vital, timely and more important than ever,” said Tom Miller, UNA-USA's incoming president. “We see great potential for working with the new US administration and the American people to maximize the important ‘win-win’ relationship between the United Nations and the United States. I look forward to the opportunity to serve the UNA and to help it achieve this important mission.”
The search for a new president began after Luers announced last fall that he was stepping down from his position at UNA-USA. His career includes a long and distinguished span in the Foreign Service, a significant tenure as president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and more than 10 years at the helm of the UN Association.
“As head of UNA-USA, Bill has added greatly to its growth and work on behalf of the UN and its supporters across the country,” said William J. McDonough, co-chairman of UNA-USA. “The board wishes to express its appreciation for his years of dedication.”
For 65 years, UNA-USA has helped lead America’s international efforts through its membership in the United Nations. UNA-USA continues to be an influential institution and opinion leader for our nation. As an American organization with 155 chapters throughout the country, the work and programs of UNA-USA are both universal and nonpartisan, working as an ambassador to promote society’s highest collective values and aspirations.
Two years ago, under the leadership of Luers, the UNA-USA board engaged in a new strategic planning process. The focus was on the best way to achieve the goals of the UNA vision, which tasks the organization to strive for “a world in which humanity is spared the scourge of war, human rights are honored, the natural environment is protected and the United States is a constructive member of the United Nations for the well-being of all humankind.”
UNA-USA is therefore dedicated to:
• Educating, inspiring and mobilizing Americans to support the principles and vital work of the UN;
• Strengthening the UN system;
• Promoting constructive US leadership in that system; and
• Achieving the goals of the UN Charter
To achieve these priorities, UNA-USA relies on the fundamental belief that beneficial change begins with education. These goals include educating Americans about the conditions for creating peace, economic balance and justice worldwide; the consequences of changes to the earth’s environment; the importance of human rights and justice for all; and the responsibilities and potential of individual and national participation in world affairs.
For more information on Thomas J. Miller and UNA-USA, call Chris Tangney, 212-907-1382.
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