Mr Richard Burge

Richard is Chief Executive of Wilton Park, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office agency for dialogue on international policy.  He is also on the Board of the Association of Chief Executives (representing the heads of government agencies and arms-length bodies), and is Commissioner for the Commonwealth Scholarships Commission.

Richard's previous posts have included being chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, director general of the Zoological Society of London, Head of Africa and Middle East development operations at the British Council, and running his own environmental consultancy business.

He graduated from Hatfield College in 1980 and was a Commonwealth Scholar at the University of Peradeniiya, Sri Lanka.  He has worked in over 50 countries.

Richard joined Council as a lay member in August 2011.