Vanu Gopala Menon

Vanu Gopala Menon (born September 8, 1960) became the Permanent Representative of Singapore to the United Nations on September 16, 2004,^[1] a position he held until August 2011. As an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary,^[2] Menon is the personal representative of the President of Singapore.

Menon was educated at the National University of Singapore, taking a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration in 1985. He then joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, serving as First Secretary at Singapore's UN mission in New York (March 1988 – April 1991). Returning to study on a Raffles Scholarship at the London School of Economics, he was awarded a Master of Science in International Relations in 1994. Menon then served in the Singapore High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (November 1994 – November 1997). On his return to Singapore, he joined the Policy, Planning and Analysis Directorate of the Ministry, rising to become its Director^[1] (December 1998 – October 2001).^[3] He left that position for Geneva where he represented Singapore to the UN, whilst also serving as Singapore's Ambassador to Turkey^[1] (December 2001 – August 2004).^[3]

Menon is married to Mrs Jayanthi Menon and they have a son & a daughter.^{[1] [4]}