Commonwealth Secretary-General

Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations
Incumbent Patricia Scotland since 1 April 2016
Style	Her Excellency
Appointer	Commonwealth Heads of Government
Term length	Four years renewable once
Inaugural holder	Arnold Smith
Website	thecommonwealth.org/about-us/secretary-general

The Commonwealth Secretary-General is the head of the Commonwealth Secretariat, the central body which has served the Commonwealth of Nations since its establishment in 1965. They are responsible for representing the Commonwealth publicly.^[1]

The Commonwealth Secretary-General should not be confused with the Head of the Commonwealth, who is currently Elizabeth II.

List of Secretaries-General

#	Name	Portrait	Country	Start	End	Background
1	Arnold Smith		Canada	1 July 1965	30 June 1975	Canadian ambassador to Egypt (1958-1961) Canadian ambassador to the USSR (1961-1963)
2	Shridath Ramphal		Guyana	1 July 1975	30 June 1990	Foreign Minister of Guyana (1972-1975)
3	Emeka Anyaoku		Nigeria	1 July 1990	31 March 2000	Deputy Secretary-General for Political Affairs (1977-1990)
4	Don McKinnon		New Zealand	1 April 2000	31 March 2008	Foreign Minister of New Zealand (1990-1999)
5	Kamalesh Sharma		India	1 April 2008	31 March 2016	Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations (1997–2002) Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom(2004–2008)
6	Patricia Scotland		Dominica  United Kingdom	1 April 2016	Incumbent	Attorney General for England and Wales and Northern Ireland (2007–2010) UK Minister of State (Home Office; 2003–2007) UK Parliamentary Secretary (Lord Chancellor's Department; 2001–2003) UK Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (1999–2001) UK House of Lords (1997–present)

References

1. "Role of the Secretary-General". Commonwealth Secretariat. Archived from the original on 29 October 2007. Retrieved 5 April 2008.