The people behind the standards.

Apollo John is a protocol, diplomacy and etiquette expert and the Chief Executive Officer of Protocol Hub International (PHI), a consultancy specialising in protocol advisory, diplomatic and corporate etiquette, executive training, event management, institutional representation and stakeholder engagement.

He previously served as Director of Protocol at the Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB) Secretariat and as Chief of Staff and Chief of Protocol in the Office of the Governor, Homa Bay County, Kenya.

His professional experience encompasses government protocol, institutional representation, high-level official functions, diplomatic engagements and executive capacity development.

Apollo holds a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B Hons) from Nkumba University, Uganda. His professional qualifications and specialised training include a Master’s Module in Protocol Basics from the International School of Protocol and Diplomacy (ISPD), Brussels, Belgium; certification as a Protocol and Etiquette Trainer from the Protocol School of Washington, DC; an Africa–China Diplomatic Trade Certificate from Jiangxi University of Foreign Studies, Nanchang, China; and a Senior Management Course certificate from the Kenya School of Government (KSG).

He is a distinguished trainer in protocol, etiquette and institutional representation, having delivered training to various institutions, including the University of Nairobi and other institutions of higher learning. He is also a speaker at prominent protocol and diplomacy forums, including the World Protocol Matters Conference and Afriprotocol Conference, where he contributes to professional discourse on the evolving role of protocol in leadership, diplomacy and international engagement.

Through his professional practice, training and advisory work, Apollo is committed to advancing professional standards, ethical practice and institutional excellence, while strengthening capacity in protocol and diplomacy across Africa and internationally.

Dr Farah Faizal is a retired ambassador and specialist on Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

The first Maldivian woman to obtain a Ph.D., she is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London.

A former High Commissioner of the Maldives to the UK and non-resident Ambassador to several European countries, she was named Diplomat of the Year from Asia and Oceania in 2022.

Her research focuses on democracy, human rights, climate change, and feminist foreign policy.

Co-editor of Women, Security, South Asia: A Clearing in the Thicket, she is also an accomplished public speaker who has appeared on the BBC and at the Hay Festival.

She is a founder member of VOCAL, an NGO working to advance feminist foreign policy.

For the past 35 years, Ms. Phillipa Lawrence, a former diplomat and international affairs professional in diplomacy, protocol and diplomatic etiquette has served as a protocol expert, career diplomat and international civil servant with the United Nations, the Caribbean Community Regional Secretariat (CARICOM) and the Jamaican Foreign Service. 

Ms. Lawrence is the former Chief of Protocol at the United Nations Office at Vienna where she coordinated visits of Royalty, Heads of State and Government, and liaised with Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Permanent Missions to the UN Office at Vienna. She also arranged diplomatic and protocol ceremonies and was a key interlocutor for protocol arrangements for High Level Meetings, Congresses and Conferences. 

She worked previously at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Jamaica where she served as First Secretary at the Embassy of Jamaica to the USA, Alternate Permanent Representative of Jamaica to the Organisation of American States and Deputy Chief of Mission and Head of Chancery at the Embassy of Jamaica to Mexico and Central America. Following this, she went to work at the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat in Guyana and served as Deputy Programme Manager for Foreign Policy and Community Relations and then Research and Protocol Officer in the Cabinet of the CARICOM Secretary-General. 

Ms. Lawrence has lectured on protocol and diplomatic etiquette both face to face and virtually in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Caribbean as well as at the United Nations in Vienna. For the past 9 years she has provided on-line and face to face training in Protocol as the designated UN Protocol Expert for the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), as well as an Expert in Institutional Protocol and VIP Management at the International School for Protocol and Diplomacy (ISPD) and sits on the Advisory Board of the International Centre for Protocol and Diplomacy (ICPD) as well as the Board of the School of Business Administration of UTECH. 

In 2024, she was Inducted as a Ceremonial and Protocol Researcher – Academic de Numero 47 in the International Academy for Protocol and Ceremonial and the International Organisation for Protocol and Ceremonial (OICP) based in Sao Paulo, Brasil. 

While pursuing her Bachelor of Arts at the University of the West Indies (Mona), Ms. Lawrence was the recipient of the Gabriel Coulthard Prize for Spanish and also the University Prize for Use of English. At Tufts University she was awarded the Xerox Global Scholar Prize. 

Ms. Lawrence pursued her diplomatic studies in Australia.

Dr. Farhat Asif is the Founder and President of the Institute of Peace and Diplomatic Studies (IPDS), Pakistan, and a foreign policy and public diplomacy professional with more than 17 years of experience in diplomacy, international relations, strategic communication, research, and institutional engagement. 

Her work connects diplomats, policymakers, academics, international organizations, and emerging professionals across Asia, the Middle East, Central Asia, Eurasia, and beyond. 

Through IPDS, she has developed international partnerships, diplomatic training and leadership initiatives, policy dialogues, and platforms designed to strengthen professional capacity and cross-regional cooperation. 

She is also the Founding Editor of The Diplomatic Insight and has extensive experience in diplomatic engagement, international convening, and public diplomacy.