Tarcisio Alvarez-Rivero is a recently retired senior staff member of the United Nations, where he served for 29 years. He is currently an adjunct professor and lecturer at American University and IE University, Madrid, in addition to his classes at Cornell University.
At the United Nations, Professor Alvarez-Rivero’s last assignment was as Coordinator of the SPARK (Strategy, Partnerships, Accountability, Results and Knowledge) teams in the Office of the Under-Secretary General of the UN Economic and Social Commissions for Western Asia (UN ESCWA) in Beirut, Lebanon. In this position, he oversaw ESCWA’s strategic planning and business intelligence processes as well as the evaluations, risk management, and internal control programmes. Professor Alvarez-Rivero also led ESCWA’s organizational learning and change management processes, including its transition to an AGILE-based business model. In addition, he oversaw the development of the UN Development System’s Regional Knowledge and Data Hub and ESCWA’s online Arabic learning management system.
Professor Alvarez-Rivero was a member of the UN Development Group’s Task Team on Programme Development and Results, and he led the UN Strategic Planning Network Task Force on Strategy and UNSDCFs, through which he coordinated the interagency processes that developed the planning guidance for all UN country offices (2020) as well as the update of the UN Development System guidance document on Results-Based Management. Professor Alvarez-Rivero was also a member of the principals group of the UN Evaluations Group and the UN high-level Task Forces on Strategic Human Resource Management and on Gender Finance.
During his UN career, Professor Alvarez-Rivero executed a number of field projects, including the development of national cleaner technology strategies in Argentina, Colombia, Nicaragua, the Slovak Republic, Tanzania, and Vietnam. He has also engaged in advisory services with several governments for the development of supply chain and environmental management initiatives, including projects in Denmark, Norway, Korea, Japan, and the United States. Professor Alvarez-Rivero was a member of the drafting committees of the ISO 14051 and ISO 26000 standards and led the drafting group of the International Federation of Accountants Environmental Management Accounting Guidelines. Additional achievements include the creation of the global programme on the 10-year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production (10YFP), the establishment of the UN Office for the Decade of Water in Zaragoza, Spain, and the co-founding of the EMAN Global Network.
Prior to joining the United Nations in 1995, Professor Alvarez-Rivero worked in the private sector for over a decade, most recently as a representative agent for Cargill Inc. in Latin America, where he negotiated commodities contracts and managed commodities production and export programmes.
