Leadership

Annemarie Hou

Executive Director, 
United States of America (Western European and Others Group)

Annemarie Hou is the Executive Director of the United Nations Office of Partnerships where she is focused on building partnerships to advance the mission of the UN toward a world where everyone thrives in peace, dignity and equality on a healthy planet.

Most recently she served as Chief of Staff and Director of the Executive Office for the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Previously, she oversaw the communications and advocacy portfolio at UNAIDS where she was responsible for positioning HIV and development issues in the global landscape.

Prior to joining the UN, Ms Hou worked in the philanthropic field—dedicated to health and children’s issues. She served as the first Global Health Communications Manager at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and as the family’s spokesperson.

And Ms Hou was the Communications Director at Casey Family Programmes, an operating foundation dedicated to child welfare issues started by the founder of UPS.

An award-winning writer she started her career as a television journalist.