Karen Pierce

Her Excellency
Dame Karen Pierce
DCMG
Pierce in 2016
Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations
Assumed office
23 March 2018
Monarch Elizabeth II
Preceded by Matthew Rycroft
British Ambassador, Kabul
In office
2015–2016
Preceded by Sir Richard Stagg, KCMG
Succeeded by Dominic Jermey, CVO
Personal details
Born (1959-09-23) 23 September 1959
Alma mater

Dame Karen Elizabeth Pierce, DCMG (born 23 September 1959) is a British diplomat who is the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations.[1][2]

Career

Pierce was educated at Penwortham Girls' High School in Lancashire and Girton College, Cambridge (BA in English, later raised to MA). She joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1981. After a period of training in Japanese, she was posted to Tokyo as a Third Secretary in 1984. In 1987, she returned to London and joined the Security Policy Department of the FCO. From 1992 to 1995, she was based in Washington, D.C., as Private Secretary to the Ambassador. She held various positions at the FCO between 1996 and 2000: Team Leader for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova (1996 to 1997), Deputy Head Eastern Adriatic (Balkans) Department (1997 to 1999), and Head of the FCO Newsroom (1999 to 2000).[3]

From 2006 to 2009 Pierce was the UK's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York. In this capacity, she acted as the President of the UN Security Council in April 2007 and in May 2008. From 2009 to 2012 she was Director, South Asia and Afghanistan at the FCO, acting as the UK Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan June 2010 – June 2011. In 2012 she gained an MSc degree in International Strategy and Diplomacy from the London School of Economics.

From 2012 to 2015 she was the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations in Geneva, and also to other international organisations in Geneva including the World Trade Organization.[3] From May 2015 to February 2016 she was the United Kingdom's Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.[4] Until early 2018, she served as the FCO's Director General Political. She was appointed as the UK's Permanent Representative to the UN in March 2018.[5]

Personal life

Pierce is married to Charles Roxburgh, a senior civil servant at HM Treasury.[6] Together they have two sons, born 1991 and 1997.[3]

She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 2018 Birthday Honours.

Offices held

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Peter Gooderham		 British Permanent Representative
to the United Nations in Geneva
2012–2015		 Succeeded by
Julian Braithwaite
Preceded by
Sir Richard Stagg		 British Ambassador
to Afghanistan
2015–2016		 Succeeded by
Dominic Jermey
Preceded by
Deborah Bronnert		 Chief Operating Officer,
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
2016–2017		 Succeeded by
Peter Jones
Preceded by
Sir Tim Barrow		 Director-General, Political,
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
2017–2018		 Succeeded by
Richard Moore
Preceded by
Matthew Rycroft		 British Permanent Representative
to the United Nations
2018–		 Incumbent

References

Notes

  1. ↑ "Birthdays". The Guardian. 23 September 2014. p. 41.
  2. ↑ Wintour, Patrick (27 November 2017). "Karen Pierce becomes first female UK ambassador to the UN". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 "Change of UK's Permanent Representative to the United Nations and World Trade Organisation in Geneva". Foreign and Commonwealth Office. 5 August 2011. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  4. ↑ "New UK Ambassador to Afghanistan Presents Letter of Credence to President Ghani" (Press release). Office of the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. 26 May 2015. Archived from the original on 15 July 2015.
  5. ↑ "New Permanent Representative of United Kingdom Presents Credentials - Meetings Coverage and Press Releases". www.un.org. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  6. ↑ "Charles Roxburgh - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk.


Other sources

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