David Payton


David Bruce Payton was the Administrator of Tokelau from 17 October 2006 to 2009.
He also served as Senior Advisor to the Secretary-General for the International Conference on Population and Development as part of the United Nations Population Fund based in New York. He was also on the New Zealand Delegation to the historic Rio Summit in 1993 led by New Zealand diplomat, Terence O'Brien
Payton was previously New Zealand Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and then Ambassador to the Netherlands.
He retired from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 2014 at the age of 62, after spending the last few years of his career working in New York for the United Nations Development Programme on issues related to development in Small Island Developing States.
Vastly experienced on development issues surrounding SIDs, Payton now works as a consultant on SIDs, based out of New Zealand.