Bob Peirce

Robert Nigel Peirce is a British businessman in Los Angeles. Until July 2009 he was a British diplomat, serving as British Consul-General in Los Angeles. He was a key negotiator with China on Hong Kong from the early 1980s through the handover in June 1997.

Under the chairmanship of Christopher Patten, Peirce guided the work of the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland, whose seminal report provided a vital foundation for peace in Northern Ireland. He has also worked closely with the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) to develop links between the UK and US on all aspects of policing policy.

In his capacity as Consul-General in Los Angeles, he facilitated the first-ever visit by a serving British Prime Minister to California and strengthened UK-CA cultural and business relations through the creation of BritWeek. He has served as private secretary to three British Foreign Secretaries: Sir Geoffrey Howe, Sir John Major, and Douglas Hurd.

Peirce (born 18 March 1955) was raised in Somerset, England, where he attended Taunton School., and in South Africa. He was educated at St Catherine's College, Oxford, where he obtained a MA in Modern History, and also studied Chinese at Cambridge University. His parents are Kenneth and Margaret (Edna) Peirce.

After joining the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1977, Bob worked in a number of key positions. He served in Hong Kong (from 1979–80, then as Deputy Political Advisor from 1986–89 and finally as Political Advisor to the Governor from 1993–97), in Peking (1980–83), at the FCO in London (1983–85), and in the Cabinet Office (1985–86). He was Private Secretary to three Secretaries of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs between 1988-90. He served at the UK Mission to the UN from 1990–93, where his work focused on Security Council issues, including Namibia, Cambodia, South Africa, Angola, Yugoslavia, Cyprus and many others.

In 1990, he was engaged by the UK's Overseas Development Administration (the predecessor to the Department for International Development) to serve as a consultant to the President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, on the organisation of the Ugandan State House bureaucracy. Bob was posted to the Royal College of Defense Studies in 1998 until becoming Secretary of the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland later that year. He left the Commission in 1999 and became Counselor (Press & Public Affairs) at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C. In 2005, he was appointed Consul-General in Los Angeles, with responsibility for a geographical region with a larger population than many countries.

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