Michael Shearer OBE

Biography

Mr. Michael Shearer OBE was Her Majesty`s Consul-General for Western Japan 2013 to 2015.

He joined the FCO in 2007 as a senior civil servant, following 10 years commercial banking experience with the HSBC Group with postings in the US, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan. Prior to HSBC he also spent 2 years working with local government in Japan.

Mr. Shearer`s connection with Japan spans over 22 years, having lived in Osaka in 1991 as a foreign university student (Kansai Gaidai), and, from 1993 to 1995 as Co-ordinator for International Relations for Sakawa Municipality, Kochi Prefecture.

In March 2011 he returned to Japan to lead the on-the-ground operations in Sendai to evacuate and support British Nationals, following the Great East Japan Earthquake, for which he was appointed OBE by Her Majesty The Queen in March 2012.

He has also served as the FCO`s Assistant Director for Diversity & Equality and as British Deputy High Commissioner to the Republic of Sierra Leone.

Mr. Shearer holds an MBA with distinction from Durham University and a BA Honours degree in Japanese and Chinese from Leeds University. He is an elected member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.