Ambassador Thomas Wheeler served in the South African Foreign Service from 1961 to 2003; he served as Chief Director: Multilateral 1993 -1997; SA Ambassador to Turkey and the former Soviet Central Asian states of Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan 1997 – 2001; and lastly, Chief Director: Latin America and the Caribbean 2001 – 2003. He joined SAIIA as its Chief Operating Officer in 2003. He was appointed as SAIIA’s Foreign Policy Research Fellow in November 2006 and is currently a research associate. He was editor of SA Foreign Policy Monitor and managing editor of the SA Yearbook of International Affairs 2008-09.