Rita French
Biography
Rita French is Britain’s Global Ambassador for Human Rights and Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva. Rita was appointed in May 2019.
Rita has over 20 years of experience in public service. Rita began her career as an economist advising on tobacco and alcohol taxation at HM Revenue and Customs. She moved into a number of policy roles at HM Treasury including advising on environmental policy, local government, enterprise policy, and worked on a joint review with the Department for Transport on developing a strategy for transport investment. She also worked in the private office of the then Chancellor of the Exchequer as his speech writer.
Rita was Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Culture working with the department to oversee delivery of the London 2012 Olympics. In her last role, Rita was Director for Media and was Senior Responsible Officer for the BBC and Ofcom where she chaired a number of senior Board appointments. She coordinated the government’s response to the Leveson phone-hacking inquiry and delivered an ambitious change programme for Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. She also sat on the Department’s Board.
Rita holds an undergraduate and Master’s degrees in Economics. She is married and has a daughter and son.
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