Sir Colin Budd, KCMG, has led a remarkably distinguished career as a UK civil servant, serving in high-level positions mainly at the Cabinet Office, supervising European Affairs, Intelligence, Overseas and Defence, and at the Foreign Office. He held postings in The Hague, Islamabad, Bonn and Warsaw. He was Deputy Under Secretary of State for Europe and Economic matters and Ambassador the Netherlands. He spent several years in Brussels, serving as Chef de Cabinet of Sir Leon Brittan, the then member of the European Commission in charge of Trade. Since retiring from the Civil Service, Sir Colin has held a number of leadership positions in the UK.

Sir Colin has devoted a lot of time and energy on training diplomats in Europe, the UK, and beyond. He was one of the main trainers of the European Diplomatic Service after it was created by the Treaty of Lisbon. He has trained several EU member States in preparation for their EU presidency and has put his deep knowledge of diplomatic practice at the disposal of the next generations of diplomats.