Ramu Damodaran served as the first Director of the United Nations Academic Impact from 2010 to 2021; he was also secretary of the United Nations General Assembly’s Committee on Information from 2011. His 33-year association with the United Nations began as a delegate of India and then Secretariat assignments, including the Departments of Special Political Questions, Peacekeeping and Global Communications, as well as the Executive Office of the Secretary-General. As a member of the Indian Foreign Service, where he was promoted to the rank of ambassador, he served as executive assistant to the Prime Minister of India between 1991 and 1994.