Senior Member - Yolanda Spies
Yolanda Kemp Spies is an alumna of the Oxford University Diplomatic Studies Programme, which she now directs. She served as a South African diplomat for 18 years before entering academia in 2005. Her doctoral research on diplomatic training for developing countries led to the creation of a customised Master of Diplomatic Studies at the University of Pretoria, which she directed until 2016.
She has since taught diplomacy at several institutions, including Webster University in Ghana and Zayed University in the UAE. Since 2016, she has been a Senior Research Fellow with the SARCHI Chair in African Diplomacy and Foreign Policy at the University of Johannesburg, and in 2020, she was appointed a Senior Fellow at the Geneva-based DiploFoundation.
Her research spans diplomacy, foreign policy, international organisations, international law, conflict resolution, global power dynamics, African politics, and the ethics of international relations. She is the author of two books published in 2019: Global Diplomacy and International Society and Global South Perspectives on Diplomacy.
Board of Excellencies
Our diplomatic network consists of prestigious individuals known as the Board of Excellencies. We invite distinguished presidents, ambassadors, scholars, high-level government officials, practitioners, public servants, and more to become a member of our Board of Excellencies.
Thomas Stuart Francis Fletcher CMG
Under-Secretary-General for UN OCHA, formerly a UK Ambassador, author and Principal of Hertford College (2020-24).
Tom Fletcher was the Principal of Hertford College, Oxford. He was previously the foreign policy adviser to three UK Prime Ministers (2007-11) and the UK’s Ambassador to Lebanon (2011-15). More recently, he has been a Visiting Professor at New York University, and chaired the International Advisory Council of the Creative Industries Federation, promoting Britain’s most dynamic and magnetic sector overseas. In 2018 he founded The Foundation for Opportunity.
Tom led a review of British diplomacy for the UK Foreign Office in 2016…
Rawan Al Faqir
Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in London
Rawan Al Faqir is currently Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in London (since June 2025). She has also served as the Alternate Representative of Jordan to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) since August 2021, and was First Secretary at the Embassy between 2021 and 2025. Also, she served as President of Young Diplomats in London from 2022 to 2025.
She has served in various capacities within the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including as Desk Officer for the USA in the North American Department and in the office of the Ministry Spokesperson. Her professional experience offers a rich perspective on Jordan’s international engagements and the realities of modern diplomacy. Ms. Al-Faqir is a Chevening Scholar, FCDO Fellow, and holds an MSt in Diplomatic Studies from the University of Oxford (2020).
Caecilia van Peski
Commander in the Royal Netherlands Navy & academic lecturer
Van Peski is a Commander in the Royal Netherlands Navy, Military Veteran and an authority in the field of Security & Defence, Civil-Military Interaction, Democratisation & Elections and Justice & Equality whose achievements have received national and international recognition. Recipient of the ‘Ambassador for Peace’ Award granted by the Universal Peace Federation (2010), she is regarded as being among the most influential women of her generation in the Netherlands – listed as one of the ‘Viva’ top 400 (2009) and among the top 100 of ‘Opzij’ (2010).
She was appointed UN Special Representative for her country, addressing the 65th United Nations General Assembly in New York with her statement ‘Deepening Democracy’…
“It is vital our board reflects diplomacy today. We strive to have a board that represents every continent, has an even balance of men and women and limits ageism.”