Denise Holt

{{Short description|British ambassador}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{BLP sources|date=January 2011}}

Denise Mary Holt, DCMG (née Mills; born 1 October 1949, Vienna, Austria) was British Ambassador to Mexico (2002–05) and Spain and Andorra (2007–09).

Previous roles include Ofqual (the examinations regulator in England) from 2010-2013 and the NHS Pay Review Body 2010-2014. She was Chair of Trustees of the Anglo-Spanish Society (2010-2013), a member of the Management Council of the Canada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies at LSE, and Chair of the Institute of Latin American Studies at the University of London. On 20 June 2011, Scottish Power Renewables announced in a press release that they had appointed Holt to their board as a non-executive director.[http://www.scottishpowerrenewables.com/pages/press_releases.asp?article=104&date_year=2011 Scottish Power Renewables press release], scottishpowerrenewables.com; accessed 27 June 2015.

Holt grew up in Russia, Japan, Lebanon, Netherlands, Iran and Bulgaria. She was educated at New Hall School, Chelmsford, and Bristol University where she studied Spanish, French and Politics.[https://www.euroweeklynews.com Profile], euroweeklynews.com; accessed 27 June 2015.

She served as First Secretary of the British Embassy in Brazil (1991–1993). She was deputy head of Eastern Department, responsible for relations with newly independent countries of Central Asia and the Trans Caucasus. In 1996, she was appointed as deputy director of human resources in the FCO (1999–2001) and later director. Later on in her career she also became director for migration and for the Overseas Territories (2005–07) at the FCO.