Catriona Wendy Campbell Laing is a British civil servant and diplomat who High Commissioner to Nigeria.

Early life and education

Laing studied economics at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 mill ...

, graduating with a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast ...

(MSc) degree in 1986. She later attended the

Cranfield School of Management Cranfield School of Management, established in 1967, is a business school that is part of Cranfield University in Bedfordshire, United Kingdom. It was ranked Top 10 in the UK and 34th in Europe in the Financial Times European Business Schools ...

Cranfield University Cranfield University is a British postgraduate public university, public research university specialising in science, engineering, design, technology and management. Cranfield was founded as the College of Aeronautics (CoA) in 1946. Through the 19 ...

, and completed a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accou ...

(MBA) in 1996.

Career

After graduating, she worked as an

ODI ODI may refer to: * Object Design, Incorporated, a defunct database software company * One Day International, cricket match * Open Data Institute, a UK not-for-profit company promoting open data * Open Data-Link Interface, an implementation of th ...

Fellow for the

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kal ...

Ministry of Works. She then joined the

Overseas Development Administration , type = Department , logo = DfID.svg , logo_width = 180px , logo_caption = , picture = File:Admiralty Screen (411824276).jpg , picture_width = 180px , picture_caption = Department for International Development (London office) (far right ...

, which was then an agency of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). She was seconded to be head of the development office of the UN Mission in Somalia 1993–94. She studied at

1995–96 for a

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...

degree. She continued with the Overseas Development Administration when it became part of the

Department for International Development The Department for International Development (DFID) was a department of HM Government responsible for administering foreign aid from 1997 to 2020. The goal of the department was "to promote sustainable development and eliminate world poverty". D ...

(DFID) in 1997. She was seconded to the Cabinet Office as deputy director of the Prime Minister's strategy unit 2001–05, then was head of DFID's International Division Advisory Department 2005–06, head of DFID in Sudan 2006–09, and director, human rights and international, at the

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Just ...

2009–12. She then joined the FCO and was the UK's senior civilian representative to the NATO operation in southern Afghanistan 2012–13. Laing was appointed to be Ambassador to Zimbabwe from 2014. After four years in that post she was appointed to be High Commissioner to Nigeria from November 2018. Laing was appointed CB in the

2012 New Year Honours 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laing, Catriona Living people Alumni of the London School of Economics Alumni of Cranfield University Civil servants in the Ministry of Overseas Development Companions of the Order of the Bath British women ambassadors Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Zimbabwe High Commissioners of the United Kingdom to Nigeria Year of birth missing (living people)