Name Robert Macaire | Role Diplomat | |
Robert (Rob) Nigel Paul Macaire, CMG (19 February 1966) was a British diplomat whose most recent posting was as British High Commissioner to Kenya. He is currently Director of Political Risk in BG Group plc.
Contents
Career
Rob Macaire joined the Ministry of Defence in 1987, and worked on a number of issues including procurement policy and supporting Special Forces, before transferring to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1990. His first diplomatic posting was in Bucharest, Romania from 1991 to 1995. He returned to the UK to work on the Middle East, following which he was posted to Washington, as First Secretary Middle East and Counter Terrorism, from 1998-2002. This included dealing with the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
In 2002 Macaire returned to London to head the Counter Terrorism Policy Department in the Foreign Office in the immediate post 9/11 period. He served as Political Counsellor in New Delhi, India from 2004 to 2006, during which time he led a team responding to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in Phuket, Thailand. He returned to London as Director of Consular Services, responsible for all support to UK nationals abroad, including crisis response. In 2008 he was appointed British High Commissioner to Nairobi, Kenya, where he served until 2011. In Nairobi he was involved among other things with Kenyans’ efforts to fight corruption in their country, support for Kenya’s new constitution in 2010, and was responsible for UK dealings with Somalia, including kidnap and hijack cases.
Currently Macaire is working as Director of Political Risk in BG Group plc.
Personal life
Macaire was educated at Cranleigh School and won an Exhibition to St. Edmund Hall, Oxford (MA Modern History). In 1996 he married Alice (née Mackenzie). While they were stationed in Kenya, Alice founded and chaired the initiative which resulted in the transformation of the Karura Forest. They have two daughters, Emily b. 1997 and Eleanora b. 1999.