Rob Behrens, UK

CBE, Former Ombudsman, Public Servant

Sir Rob Behrens CBE is an Ombudsman and public servant.

He began his career as an academic before joining the UK Cabinet Office. As Director of the Southern Africa Development Unit, he made a significant contribution to the bilateral agreement to create a post-apartheid public service in South Africafor which he was thanked personally by President Mandela.

After further international development work, Rob was appointed Secretary to the Committee on Standards in Public Life, the body advising the Prime Minister on ethical standards. In 2006 he become Complaints Commissioner to the Bar in England and Wales and was then appointed Higher Education Ombudsman in England and Wales a position he held for 8 years.

At the end of his second term, Rob was appointed Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. Rob was elected to the European and World Boards of the International Ombudsman Institute between 2020 and 2024 and played a crucial role in creating Ombudsman peer review, the IOI European Learning Academy, and Ombudsman support to the Parliamentary Human Rights Commissioner in Ukraine.

Educated at Nottingham and Exeter Universities, he is an Honorary Life Member of the European Network of Ombuds in Higher Education.

He was made a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list in 2015 for ‘services to higher education’, and received a Knighthood for ‘Public Service’ in the King’s Birthday Honours 2024. In the same year he was awarded The Certificate of Merit ‘for distinguished Service to the Ukrainian People’ by Verkhovna Rada, the national Parliament of Ukraine.