Kelly West is the Executive Coordinator of the Global Funds Branch (GEF/GCF). She has a MSc in Geosciences (University of Arizona 1992) and a PhD in Earth Sciences (University of California - Los Angeles, 1997). She served on the UNDP/GEF pilot phase ‘Lake Tanganyika Biodiversity Project’ from 1997-2000. Subsequently, she worked in IUCN’s Regional Office for Eastern & Southern Africa as the Water & Wetlands Coordinator and later as the Regional Program Coordinator. Kelly joined UNEP in 2009 as a UNEP/GEF Task Manager embedded in the International Waters portfolio. From 2014-2021, she served as UNEP’s GEF Coordinator and in the last year of this period she was OIC for UNEP’s Green Climate Fund portfolio. She then shifted to UNEP’s Early Warning and Assessment Division, serving as the Deputy Director. Having served on a complex field project and overseen thematic portfolios of projects and programs, Kelly is passionate about the design and delivery of timely, relevant, sustainable environmental projects. In her free time, she likes to travel and tries to improve her average tennis, yoga and cooking skills.
