Portrait of Mr. Barry Desker, Director of Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies

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This is a head-and-shoulder portrait of Mr. Barry Henry Patrick Desker or Barry Desker, Director of the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, Nanyang Technological University, who served from October 2000 to December 2008. He was among the first batch of nine top secondary students awarded the President's Scholarships (formerly "Yang di-Pertuan Negara Scholarship") in 1966. Upon joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he served as Desk Officer (Malaysia) (Apr 1970); Assistant Secretary (Southeast Asia) (Jan 1971) and (Indochina) (Oct 1974); Principal Assistant Secretary (International) (Jan 1975); Consular at the Embassy of Singapore in Jakarta (1976-1980); Deputy Director (Political Division) (1980); Deputy Permanent Representative of Singapore to the United Nations in New York (1982-1984); Director (Policy, Planning and Analysis Division) (1984-1986); Ambassador to Indonesia (1986-Dec 1993); and non-resident Ambassador to Holy See (2007). He was also Chief Executive Officer of the Trade Development Board (Jan 1994-Dec 2000); Co-Chair of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (2001-2003); Vice-Chairman of Singapore Business Federation (2003-to date); Dean of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University (Jan 2007-to date); Member of the Board of Trustees of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (Nov 1999-2002) and the Board of Executives of the International Chamber of Commerce (Paris) (2006-2008); Director of Singapore Airport Terminal Services Limited (1999-Jul 2005); Chairman of the Board of Governors of Jurong Port Private Limited (Jan 2001-Dec 2008), Board of Governors of Singapore International Foundation (Apr 2001-Mac 2008), and Singapore Technologies Marine Limited (2008-to date). He was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Gold) in 1992. Title devised by Library staff.