NICK PICKARD
UK Deputy Permanent Representative to NATO
Nick Pickard arrived at NATO in July 2017. As the UK’s Deputy Permanent Representative to NATO,
he leads (under the UK Permanent Representative and Military Representative) the UK’s Joint
Delegation to NATO. This includes representing the UK on the North Atlantic Council and the
Deputies Committee.
Prior to working at NATO Nick was Deputy Head of Mission, Political Counsellor and Consul-General
at the British Embassy in Berlin since August 2013. He was responsible for all bilateral and consular
relations with Germany including in foreign and security policy, migration, justice and home affairs;
for crisis management, media, public diplomacy and political affairs; and for the administration of
the UK’s diplo ati et ork i Ger a y. I
5 he led the pla i g for the four-day
State Visit to
Germany of Her Majesty the Queen, who appointed him Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.
Between 2008 and 2012 Nick was based in London as Head of international security policy in the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office. In this role he was responsible among other issues for NATO
policy, European defence, nuclear deterrence, defence industrial policy, and disarmament and arms
o trol. His tea
as also respo si le for the UK’s i ol e e t i risis a age e t operatio s i
Libya, Afghanistan and the Balkans, counter-piracy off the Horn of Africa, including UK leadership of
the EU naval mission, and for wider European security initiatives including relations with Russia.
His background is in the Ministry of Defence, where he worked for 13 years until 2008, most recently
on a large-scale change programme which restructured and refocused the way in which the Ministry
orks. Pre iously, he as spe ifi ally respo si le for the UK’s Europea defe e strategy, a d
planned and delivered the UK’s
EU Preside y i
5 hi h lau hed EU ilitary, poli e a d aid
operations in the Balkans, Africa and Asia. He also delivered agreement across the 25 nations to a
new comprehensive civil-military approach to crisis management.
Nick subsequently worked for the Royal Air Force, where he created a Business Partner team to
manage and develop the 11000-strong civilian workforce. In earlier posts he has been responsible
for delivering a new defence industrial policy, programming and scrutiny for Air equipment
procurement projects, authoring public reports on Iraq and missile defence, and managing the
collocation of the defence logistics headquarters.
Nick comes from the beautiful landscapes of the Lake District of north-west England, where he still
enjoys walking the fells, and has also lived in Bristol, Cambridge and London as well as Berlin. He
originally studied music and still occasionally directs, accompanies and sings in church choirs. He is
married and has two sons.