Brexit Discussion with HM Consul General Kevin McGurgan

Join us for an evening to discuss Brexit with the Consul General Kevin McGurgan, hosted by The Chandaria Family. The discussion will be moderated by Jacqueline Milczarek, executive producer of iPoliticsLive journalism events. We encourage you to submit any questions you have for the Consul General when you sign up for the event so we can try and incorporate them into the discussion.

Biography

Kevin McGurgan took up his appointment as HM Consul General and Director-General for UK Trade and Investment in Toronto in August 2014.

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1971, Kevin joined the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1990. He comes to Canada after four years as Consul-General in Florida, based in Miami. During that period he was responsible for business development between the UK and Florida and oversaw the expansion of the Consulate’s staff and role across Florida and the Caribbean.

Kevin’s diplomatic career has seen him serve short tours in Russia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Syria (1993-4); as a press officer in the UK’s Permanent Representation to the European Union (1994-5); as a political and consular officer in Bosnia (1996-7) and from 2003-2005 as Head of the Political and Economic team in Sweden with a specific focus on European policy issues and counter-terrorism. Between 2005 and 2008 he was Deputy Head of the Iraq Policy Unit in the Foreign Office before being seconded to the Home Office to work on organised crime, counter terrorism and migration issues. In London he has also worked on Afghanistan, the Balkans and arms export policy.

This is his first posting to Canada but not his first time working with Canadians. As Deputy Head of the NATO Provincial Reconstruction Team in Helmand province from 2008 – 2009, he worked closely with Canadian colleagues in neighboring Kandahar. While from 1997 – 2000, he worked closely with Ambassador Fowler and the Canadian delegation at the United Nations in New York on multilateral sanctions regimes, negotiating and implementing sanctions regimes in the Middle East, Asia and diamond and arms embargoes in Africa (Sierra Leone and Angola).

Kevin is accompanied by his wife Vicki (also from Scotland), and his two sons, Alexander and Michael.