The Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) has announced a new addition to its senior management team, appointing former Foreign and Commonwealth Office director of strategy Alex Ellis as a director general.
Ellis, who is currently British ambassador to Brazil, will take up the post in January, where he will serve under DExEU permanent secretary Olly Robbins and be responsible for negotiation strategy and relations with EU member states and institutions.
DExEU said Ellis' role would be in addition to that of Sarah Healey, who has served as director general at the department since July.
Alex Ellis interview
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In a 2013 interview with Civil Service World, just before Ellis took up his posting as ambassador to Brazil, he listed the introduction of regular “challenge sessions” for FCO staff and outcomes metrics for “softer” diplomacy tasks among the reforms he oversaw.
The FCO said its current Europe director Vijay Rangarajan would succeed Ellis as ambassador to Brazil from the spring.