Clare is Assistant Secretary in the Trade and Economic Group of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, with responsibility for the Ministry’s trade policy and negotiating teams.  In 2021 she was appointed New Zealand’s Permanent Representative designate to the World Trade Organisation, and will take up her posting in early 2022. 

From April 2013 to March 2017 she served as New Zealand’s Ambassador to Mexico, with concurrent accreditations to Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela and as High Commissioner to Belize. 

Between  2009 and 2017 Clare led the Trade in Goods team of the Trade and Economic Group, and was lead Goods negotiator in New Zealand’s TPP negotiating team.  Prior to this, between 2007-2009, Clare worked as a Trade Adviser in the Geneva office of the law firm White & Case LLP, covering, in particular, trade in services issues, accessions to the WTO and WTO disputes. She was Counsellor in the New Zealand Permanent Mission to the WTO from 2003 to 2007. Previously, she worked as First Secretary in the New Zealand Embassy in Santiago, Chile. 

Clare holds a Masters Degree in Political Studies from the University of Auckland, New Zealand.