As Director-General, Daccord has overseen a period of transformative change within the ICRC in response to ever-increasing humanitarian needs in armed conflicts and other situations of violence around the world. As the organisation has seen significant growth in its operations in recent years, employing some 16,000 people in more than 80 countries (as of 2017), Daccord has spearheaded significant institutional reforms in areas such as human resources and people management; partnerships and stakeholder management; and innovation and technology . He has spoken and published widely on key issues such as violence against health care ; the risks and opportunities of new technologies in the humanitarian sector; global humanitarian affairs; and the future of humanitarian action.

In 2014, Daccord was appointed to the chair of the Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response(SCHR), a voluntary alliance of nine of the world’s leading humanitarian organisations. In 2015, World Health Organization(WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan appointed Daccord as a member of the Advisory Group on Reform of WHO’s Work in Outbreaks and Emergencies with Health and Humanitarian Consequences. In 2016, he was appointed as a member of the board of the Overseas Development Institute(ODI) in London. He also continues to serve as Vice-Chair of the advisory board of The Performance Theatre, a position he has held since June 2015. In May 2017, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor’s degree in Social Sciences by the University of St. Gallen, in recognition of his “outstanding services to the fortunes of the ICRC.”

Daccord joined the ICRC in 1992, running humanitarian operations in various challenging contexts of armed conflict including Israel and the Occupied Territories, Sudan, Yemen, Chechnya and Georgia. He held a number of progressively senior positions within the organisation, including Head of Communication Division (1998-2002) and Director of Communications (2002-2010) before his appointment as Director-General in 2010.

Daccord was born in Zürich, Switzerland. He attended the Collège Saint-Michel in Fribourg before pursuing his studies at the University of Geneva, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and international relations in 1986. He subsequently pursued postgraduate training as a broadcast journalist, and began working at Radio Télévision Suisse in Geneva in 1987.

Yves Daccord (born 1964) was the Director-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from 2010 until 2020.