Rosemary Banks

About

Rosemary Banks is currently Director of the Manaaki New Zealand Scholarships Pacific Diplomatic Training Programme. She is a former Ambassador to the United States (from 2018-2022 and 2024-2025). Her forty plus year career in Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade included eight overseas assignments. She was Ambassador to France and Portugal and Permanent Representative to the OECD (2010-2014) and Permanent Representative at the United Nations in New York (2005-2009).  Earlier Rosemary served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Canberra and in Honiara.

Prior to her 2018 appointment as Ambassador to the United States, Rosemary was a Crown negotiator for the Treaty of Waitangi settlement process. She has a Master of Arts degree in Russian with First Class Honours from Canterbury University and a Master of Science from the London School of Economics.  The University of Canterbury awarded her an Honorary Doctorate.