Sean Cleary
Sean Cleary is a former South African diplomat who
Career History
Mr. Cleary studied social sciences and law at the University of Cape Town, the University of South Africa, and Pahlavi University in Iran. He holds an MBA from Henley Management College and Brunel University. He served in the South African Navy as Assistant to the Staff Officer (Intelligence) on the staff of Commander Maritime Defense from July 1967 to June 1969.
From 1970 to 1985, he served as a diplomat in Tehran (1970?1975); in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as Deputy Head of the Economic and Financial Relations Division (1976?1977) and Head of the Training Division of (1977 to 1978); in Washington, DC as Political Counsellor and Head of the Political Division of the South African Embassy (1978?1982); and in Beverly Hills, as Consul-General in the twelve Western States of the USA (1982 -1983). He was Chief Director in Namibia from May 1983 to September 1985, where he initiated negotiations between SWAPO and other Namibian political parties, the release of Namibian political prisoners and the implementation of that territory's first Bill of Fundamental Rights.
Mr. Cleary is the Managing Director of Strategic Concepts (Pty) Ltd, which specialises in strategic counsel to multinational corporations, risk management and investment analysis in sub-Saharan Africa. He is also Chairman of Transcontinental Consultancy (Pty) Ltd and a director of several other South African and Namibian companies.
He is a Fellow of the World Economic Forum, a Faculty Member of the WEF Annual Meeting, a Member of the World Economic Forum's Southern African Task Force and the Institute of Directors, and a Trustee of the South African Foundation for Conciliation and the Peace and Reconstruction Foundation.
Mr. Cleary was a member of the Facilitating Committee and the Preparatory Committee of the National Peace Accord, and Chairman of the Working Group on the Code of Conduct for Political Parties and Organizations. He served on several national Advisory Committees in Namibia between 1985 and 1989.
