Jessica Hand

Jessica Mary Hand (née Pearce) is a British diplomat who has been the British Ambassador to Angola since 2018.

Her Excellency Jessica Hand
British Ambassador to Angola
Incumbent
Assumed office March 2018
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Theresa May Boris Johnson
Preceded by	John Dennis
Personal details
Born	Jessica Mary Pearce
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	Professor Dr. Robert Hand
Alma mater	University of Aberdeen
Occupation	Diplomat

She was appointed as ambassador on 21 July 2017 and succeeded John Dennis in March the next year.

Consular career

Hand joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1985 and was first made Desk Officer for India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and the Maldives. In 1986, she was moved to be Desk Officer for Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Hand was first posted abroad in 1987, to be a secretary at the Dakar consulate.[1]

She was recalled in 1990 to be the Head of Economic Sanctions in the UN Department of the FCO and in 1992, the Head of the South Africa Section of the Africa Department. Between 1994 and 1996, Hand was placed on a language training course, becoming proficient in Russian.[1]

In 1996, Hand was appointed the U.K. Ambassador to Belarus in Minsk. She stayed in the post until 1999, when she was recalled to be the Deputy Head of the Non-Proliferation Department at the FCO.[2]

Hand was posted to Holland in 2002, to work at NATO JFC Brunssum as the UK Political Adviser and two years later was assigned to the Moscow consulate as Consul General and Director of Operations. In 2008, she was posted to Istanbul as Consul General and the Director of Trade and Investment. Hand stayed there until 2012, when she was recalled to work on various assignments at the FCO, including the Arms Trade Treaty.[1]

From 2014 until her appointment in July 2017 as U.K. Ambassador to Angola, Hand worked as the Head of the Arms Export Policy Department.[3]

Hand succeeded John Dennis in March 2018 as the Ambassador to Angola and the non-resident Ambassador to São Tomé and Príncipe. She presented her credentials to Angolan president João Lourenço on 28 June the same year.[4]

Personal life

Hand married her husband, Robert in 1999. She can speak French, Russian, German and Portuguese.[5]

Honours

Hand was granted an Honorary Fellowship by Cardiff University in 1997.[5]

References

1. "Press release Change of Her Majesty's Ambassador to Angola". GOV.UK. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
2. "Embassy History". British Embassy Minsk - Wayback Machine. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
3. "British Ambassador to Angola Jessica Hand". GOV.UK. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
4. "Head of State accredits ambassadors". ANGOP. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
5. "Jessica Hand". LinkedIn. Retrieved 18 November 2018.

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by John Everard	United Kingdom Ambassador to Belarus 1996–1999	Succeeded by Iain Kelly
Preceded by John Dennis	United Kingdom Ambassador to Angola 2018–present	Succeeded by Incumbent