Dominic Meiklejohn

Part of UK in USA [New York]

26th March 2010 New York, USA

A Distinctly Sporting Flavour

A distinctly sporting flavour to this week.
 
On Saturday, colleagues from the Consulate and the UK Mission to the UN ran a mile for Sport Relief in Central Park.  Against better judgement and sound medical advice, I too ran the mile, momentum and a gentle downhill slope carrying me over the finish line. 
 
Far more impressively, Capt Nick Binnington won our charity ski race at Bellayre- see his blog below.  And we raised money for a great cause, the Wounded Warrior Disabled Sports Project.  Alan Collins presented the cheque to Kirk Bauer, Executive Director of Disabled Sports USA on Friday 26 March.
 
And finally and, all respect to Capt Nick, most impressively in sporting terms, an FCO colleague, Mara Yamauchi, won the New York Half-Marathon, in about the same time as I took to do the Sport Relief mile.
 
Alan spoke at a Rutgers University conference on energy and climate change issues.  We’re always looking for opportunities to spread the message that tackling climate change is an opportunity for US and UK business.  If you do want us to speak to an audience, on this or other subjects, please mail us at britishconsulateny@fco.gov.uk.
 
And now some sad news for devoted readers of this blog (my Mum).  This is my last for a few weeks.  In my place, colleagues from the Consulate will blog about what they do for British people and businesses in New York.

About Dominic Meiklejohn

I was born in Woking, outside London, in 1967 and attended Merton College, Oxford University, graduating in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. After university, I worked for HM Customs and Excise…

I was born in Woking, outside London, in 1967 and attended Merton College, Oxford University, graduating in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

After university, I worked for HM Customs and Excise before joining the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1990. After working for the European Community Department, I learned Polish and began a posting at the British Embassy Warsaw, where I headed the British Know How Fund for Poland (1993-96). In 1997, I worked for the OSCE Mission in Albania, before heading up the India team in the South Asian Department of the FCO. In 2000, I was posted as First Secretary to the British Embassy Warsaw, with a particular focus on European Union issues in the run-up to Poland’s accession to the EU. In 2003, I returned to the UK as Deputy Head of the Environment Policy Department. From 2004-2005, I led the FCO’s Knowledge Management Programme. During this period, I led two deployments of the FCO’s Consular Rapid Deployment Team– to Sri Lanka, after the tsunami in 2004 and to Pakistan, after the earthquake in 2005. From 2006-2007, I served as Deputy Consul-General, Basra, Iraq. From June 2007 I worked with the FCO’s Change Unit.

I took up my current appointment on 22 January 2008. My wife Joanne and I are the proud parents of Olivia. Outside of the office, I cycle around Manhattan, play soccer (football) and, when parenting duties allow, enjoy the cultural riches offered by New York. I try hard to understand baseball.

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