Kevin S. Kennedy joined the United Nations Secretariat in 1977, retiring in 2014. He served in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations as Team Leader for the Integrated Operational Teams for the Great Lakes and for Mali, and as Chief of the Integrated Training Service. He has led technical assessment and other special missions relating to UN peace operations and was co-chair of the working group responsible for drafting and rolling out the United Nations Human Rights Due Diligence Policy on Support to Non-UN Security Forces (HRDDP). He also served as Senior External Relations Officer and Chief of the Scheduling Office in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General under Kofi Annan, as Information Officer in the Department of Humanitarian Affairs, and as head of the Peace and Security Section of the Department of Public Information.
Mr. Kennedy also served posts away from UN Headquarters, including in UN missions in South Africa, Kosovo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and at the UN Information Centres in London and in Washington D. C.
Since retiring from the Secretariat, Mr. Kennedy has undertaken strategic reviews, evaluations and other projects at the request of the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, the Department of Peace Operations, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Office for Disarmament Affairs.
He has contributed to the development and delivery of training for civilian and military personnel of UN peace operations, serving as a mentor and resource person for the UN Senior Mission Leaders (SML) course and Mission Advanced Staff Training (MAST). He was the principal author of a policy paper on Senior Leadership Training in UN Peace Operations published in 2019 by the International Peace Institute. Since 2016 he has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Peace Operations Training Institute a U.S.-based NGO which provides e-learning courses on peace support, humanitarian relief and security operations.
Mr. Kennedy is a graduate of The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and has done postgraduate work in international relations at New York University. He is fluent in English and French.