Mr. Raffi Gregorian brings to the United Nations over 33 years of academic, diplomatic and military experience in counter-terrorism and international peace and security. Until September 2019, when he was appointed Deputy to the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), he was Director of Multilateral Affairs in the Bureau of Counterterrorism of the United States Department of State.

Prior to that, Mr. Gregorian held different senior positions in the United States Department of State, including Acting Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Director for the Office of Peace Operations, Sanctions, and Counterterrorism from 2012-2015.  In this latter capacity, he initiated the first new U.S. peacekeeping policy in 25 years, led a number of important peacekeeping reforms, and helped secure full funding for the UN peacekeeping budget. Mr. Gregorian’s field experience includes leading two multinational missions in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) as well as military service in both BiH and in Kosovo. In BiH he was Principal Deputy High Representative (2007-2010) and for several months also Acting High Representative as well as Supervisor of Brčko District (2006-2010), having also served as Political Advisor for NATO Headquarters Sarajevo and Co-Chairman of the BiH Defense Reform Commission (2004-2006).

His previous State Department service included serving as chief of staff to the Special Adviser to the President and Secretary of State for Kosovo and Dayton Implementation and Acting Director for Kosovo Implementation.

Mr. Gregorian holds a Doctorate in International Relations and Strategic Studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, a Masters of Arts in War Studies from King’s College London, and a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in History from the University of Pennsylvania.  He is the author of several academic publications.