In August 2014, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Tom Arnold as coordinator ad interim of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement. Tom provided strategic leadership to the SUN Movement, working closely with the existing SUN Networks and the SUN Movement Secretariat.

Tom has served on a number of governmental and non-governmental bodies at national, European, and international levels, including the UN Millennium Project’s Hunger Task Force, the Irish Hunger Task Force, the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the Irish Government’s Commission on Taxation, the Consortium Board of the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research, the International Advisory Board of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the NGO European Food Security Group, the Montpellier Panel, and the Mary Robinson Foundation for Climate Justice. He is chairman of the Irish Times Trust and a member of the board of the Irish Times, Ireland’s leading newspaper.

In his earlier career, he was chief economist and assistant secretary general with the Irish Department of Agriculture and Food; chairman of the OECD Committee for Agriculture (1993-98); chairman of the OECD Working Group on Agricultural Policies and Market; and senior economist with ACOT, the Irish farm advisory service. He worked as an administrator for the European Commission (1973-83) in agriculture and development, serving in Brussels and in Africa.

He has a degree in agricultural economics from University College Dublin, and has master’s degrees from Leuven University and Trinity College, Dublin. He was the recipient of the 2014 Helen Keller International Humanitarian Award. Tom Arnold is former director general of the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA).