Director

Simon Gimson

Simon Gimson took office as Director of the Secretary-General's Office in January 2009. He is a diplomat from New Zealand, with a career focus on multilateralism, politics, and communications.

As Director, Simon's role is to advise the Secretary-General - the principal global advocate for the Commonwealth and Chief Executive of the Secretariat - on the full range of issues of relevance to the Commonwealth and the Secretariat. He also provides leadership and management of the Office that supports the Secretary-General and the Deputy Secretaries-General in their public duties and other official responsibilities.

Simon joined the Commonwealth Secretariat in mid-2004 as Deputy Head in the Office of the Secretary-General, responsible for providing policy advice to the Secretary-General on political, economic and constitutional affairs.

Simon has had diplomatic postings in the past to Papua New Guinea, Britain and France. His career, prior to joining the Secretariat, included appointments as Special Assistant to The Queen's Private Secretary, Permanent Representative to UNESCO, Deputy Head of Mission at the New Zealand Embassy in Paris, and Representative to the International Wine Organisation,. He was also at one time the Press Secretary and speech writer for the New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. His career began with responsibility for managing official aid programmes in Pacific small states.

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7747 6102
Email: s.gimson@commonwealth.int