William Elliott grew up in Sierra Leone, Texas and England. He studied English Literature at the University of York, and was then a lecturer in English at the Universities of 艁贸d藕 and Tbilisi. He joined the UK Foreign Office in 1993 and was posted to Warsaw, Kabul and Tallinn as Deputy Ambassador. In London he worked on Afghanistan at the time of 9/11 and its aftermath. He was UK Consul General in St Petersburg from 2006-2010.
Since then he has worked in international business. He has been a consultant on global markets and project management for major firms. He spent seven years at the City of London Corporation, leading financial services programmes in emerging markets and at CoP26. He is currently Chairman of Ukraine Strategic Partners, a consultancy firm supporting global business in Ukraine. He is also International Director for Polish Smog Alert, a Krakow-based NGO.
