David Bruce Payton (born c. 1952) was the Administrator of

Tokelau Tokelau (; ; known previously as the Union Islands, and, until 1976, known officially as the Tokelau Islands) is a dependent territory of New Zealand in the southern Pacific Ocean. It consists of three tropical coral atolls: Atafu, Nukunonu, a ...

from 17 October 2006 to 2009. Payton joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1975, where he worked in the aid division assisting

Niue Niue (, ; niu, Niuē) is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, northeast of New Zealand. Niue's land area is about and its population, predominantly Polynesian, was about 1,600 in 2016. Niue is located in a triangle between Tong ...

. From 1977-79 he was posted the New Zealand High Commission in Nuku'alofa,

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

. 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 (from 1992-1994) 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. From 1997 to 2000 he was New Zealand Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and from 2002 to 2006 Ambassador to the Netherlands. He was appointed Administrator of Tokelau in October 2006. He retired from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) in 2014 at the age of 62, after spending the last few years of his career (2011-2014) working in New York (for the second time) for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on issues related to development in Small Island Developing States (SIDs).

References

1952 births Living people Administrators of Tokelau New Zealand diplomats Ambassadors of New Zealand to Saudi Arabia Ambassadors of New Zealand to the Netherlands {{tokelau-politician-stub