Biography of Jon Benjamin
Since July 2017, Jon Benjamin has served as Director of the Diplomatic Academy. He served as British High Commissioner in Ghana and non-resident Ambassador to Togo, Benin, and Burkina Faso from 2014 to 2017.
He was born in Farnham Common, Buckinghamshire, on January 19, 1963. He went to the University of Surrey and Slough Grammar School.
In 1986, Jon began working at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He previously served as Ambassador to Chile from 2009 to 2014, as Acting Consul General in New York from 2005 to 2008, in Washington from 2005, and in Ankara from 1996 to 1999. (1988 to 1991).
Background and education
Jon Benjamin was born and raised in the Buckinghamshire town of Farnham Common, where he attended Slough Grammar School. At the University of Surrey, he studied German and Swedish.
He is in charge of developing and implementing an Academy to guarantee that persons working for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and those working for the government on a global scale have the diplomatic and linguistic skills and knowledge required to carry out Britain’s foreign policy.
He’s also worked at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, where he held the following positions:
Diplomatic career
- 1986: Desk Officer for Pakistan
- 1986–1987: Desk Officer for Burma and Laos, South East Asian Department
- 1988–1991: Jakarta, Third, later Second Secretary (Political)
- 1992–1993: Head of Section for Central Asia and the Caucasus, Eastern Department
- 1993–1995: Chief-of-staff to Minister of State responsible for EU/Europe and Latin America
- 1996–1999: Ankara, First Secretary, Head of Political and Public Affairs Section
- 2000: Head of Zimbabwe Emergency Unit
- 2000–2002: Deputy Head, Drugs and International Crime Department
- 2002–2005: Head of Human RightsPolicy Department
- 2005: Washington, D.C., Counsellor (Counter-terrorism and Human Rights)
- 2005–2008: New York City, Deputy Consul General & Deputy Head of Mission, subsequently Acting Consul General
- 2008–2009: New York, Secondment to Eurasia Group (political risk consultancy), Adviser to the president
- 2009–2014: Ambassador to Chile
- 2014–2017: High Commissioner to Ghana
- 2017: Director of the Diplomatic Academy
- August 2021: Ambassador to Mexico
