Amb. Simon Nabukwesi is the Principal Secretary, State Department of University Education and Research. Previously, Amb. Simon Nabukwesi served as Kenya’s High Commissioner to Canada and Ambassador to Cuba. His eleven (11) years of service as a diplomat included being the Director of Foreign Service Institute which he worked to transform into the Foreign Service Academy for training Junior Diplomats, Middle level Diplomats, Senior Diplomats and eight (8) Cohorts of Ambassadors whom he took through induction courses. The Foreign Service Academy served as a soft power tool for the government by training diplomats and ambassadors from the Eastern, Central and Southern Africa in addition to coordination of scholarships from friendly nations. This made members of the Association of directors of Foreign Service Academies from the IGAD Region to vote Nabukwesi to be their Chairperson, from 2016 to 2019 when he left the Academy to head Europe and Commonwealth Directorate in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.