Background
Pierce, Karen was born on September 23, 1959 in Preston, England.
Pierce, Karen was born on September 23, 1959 in Preston, England.
Pierce was educated at Penwortham Girls" High School and Girton College, Cambridge (Bachelor in English, later raised to Master of Arts).
Since February 2016 she has been Chief Operating Officer at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. She joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) in 1981. After a period of training in Japanese, she was posted to Tokyo as a Third Secretary in 1984.
In 1987, she returned to London and joined the Security Policy Department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. From 1992 to 1995, she was based in Washington, District of Columbia, as Private Secretary to the Ambassador.
She held various positions at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office between 1996 and 2000: Team Leader for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova (1996 to 1997), Deputy Head Eastern Adriatic (Balkans) Department (1997 to 1999), and Head of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Newsroom (1999 to 2000). From 2006 to 2009 Pierce was the United Kingdom"s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New New York
In this capacity, she acted as the President of the United Nations Security Council in April 2007 and in May 2008. From 2009 to 2012 she was Director, South Asia and Afghanistan at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, acting as the United Kingdom Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan June 2010–June 2011.
In 2012 she gained a Master of Science degree in International Strategy and Diplomacy from the London School of Economics.
From 2012 to 2015 she was the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations in Geneva, and also to other international organisations in Geneva including the World Trade Organization. From May 2015 to February 2016 she was the United Kingdom"s Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
Married Charles Roxburgh. 2 children.