Karen Pierce

Karen Elizabeth Pierce CMG (born 23 September 1959)^[1] is a British diplomat. Since August 2011, she has been the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations in Geneva and the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the World Trade Organization.

Career

Pierce joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1981. After a period of training in Japanese, she was posted to Tokyo, Japan 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., United States as a 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).^[2]

From 2006 to 2009, she 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 June 2010 to June 2011, Pierce was the UK's Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Personal life

Pierce is married to Charles Roxburgh. Together they have two sons; one born in 1991, and the other in 1997.^[2]

References