Michael Marx

Senior Humanitarian-Military Advisor, World Food Programme

Michael Marx is currently the Senior Civil-Military Coordination Advisor for the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN/OCHA) at the UN Headquarters in New York. Prior to this position, he was based in Geneva, Switzerland where he served as the Chief of the Civil-Military Coordination Section (CMCS) in UN/OCHA in Geneva. With OCHA, he has responded to the major emergencies and crises requiring humanitarian civil-military coordination. In his current role, Michael’s focus is on outreach and engagement on all aspects of humanitarian civil-military coordination, including training and education, development of policy and guidance, operational employment, and providing advice and guidance to senior officials across the globe. In advancing the effectiveness of civil-military coordination in humanitarian emergencies resulting from natural, technological and man-made disasters, including complex emergencies and protracted conflicts, he has developed extensive partnership networks with UN Member States, humanitarian organizations, and with leading academic universities and other entities operating in the civil-military relations space.

Michael joined the UN after more than two decades working within the US Government, including serving as the Division Director for the Disaster Response and Mitigation Division in the Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance at the US Agency for International Development (USAID/OFDA). While in OFDA he served in various disaster response assignments, including DART Team Leader (Disaster Assistance and Response Team) in numerous response operations that included Iraq, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Angola, Mozambique, and others. He also managed the overall US Government’s response to several humanitarian emergencies as the headquarters-based Response Manager, including the Pakistan Earthquake, the Food Security Emergencies in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel, and several Caribbean hurricanes. Michael is also a former US Army Officer, whose tours included postings in Asia, Europe, and Africa. While in the Army, he participated in multiple support operations to international disaster operations.