Chris has more than 20 years’ experience working for His Majesty's Government (HMG), mostly working in FCDO on and in fragile and conflict affected states and leading on wider development policy in HMG. In 2008 in DR Congo, he managed projects of over £200 million for road building, WASH and the mineral sector. In 2011, he oversaw projects in Afghanistan first for governance issues, including leading on elections, and then private sector development. In 2013, as Head of the Political Team in the FCO’s Somalia Unit, he led the development of policy papers for the National Security Council on issues such as al-Shabaab and the Somali elections. Then, as Head of Education Programmes in Pakistan, he oversaw a budget of £800 million for education. In 2018 he began as Deputy Head of Europe Department and Head of the EU Exit Team before taking over as Head of Europe Department. During this time, he stepped in as Private Secretary for the Minister for Africa for 3 months. Most recently he was Deputy Director for Covid-19 International Response and is now Head of Human Development Department in the FCDO. Before working for HMG, he was a secondary school teacher of English literature and language and then worked in IT after completing a MSc. in Computer Science (Distinction). He also has a MSc. in Poverty Reduction (Merit) and a MA (Oxon) in Theology.
