Oliver St. Clair Franklin OBE
Honorary British Consul for Greater Philadelphia
Appointed by UK Government in 1998 to represent British interest in the Philadelphia region, Oliver is the 3rd British Honorary Consul in Philadelphia. The UK is the largest foreign direct investor in the State of Pennsylvania with over 15,000 British nationals and dual citizens living in the region. In this role he liaises with the Consul General in New York and the British Embassy on providing advice to businesses, solving consular issues in the region and engaging in public diplomacy. His relationship with the UK started as a college student in 1966 after graduating from Lincoln University. In 2002 Her Majesty the Queen bestowed the OBE Honour in recognition of his services to British business.
In his public diplomacy role, Oliver has hosted senior members of the British Royal Family including the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, the Dukes of York and Gloucester and Earl of Wessex as well as government ministers and members of Parliament.
He created a program for Philadelphia public high school students to visit London and founded another program to provide opportunities for mid-career American minorities to work in UK Investment banks. He has spoken to many UK business groups on US fiscal and financial policies.
In his professional life, Oliver is a Senior Advisor to wealth management firms and has held senior level positions at Fidelity Investments, Dreyfus Trust, was founder of the first US firm to invest in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and Vice Chairman of Electronic Ink, a fintech company. He was Chairman of Academy Funds Trust and a corporate director of Right Management. He supports many nonprofits including The Civil War Museum of Philadelphia and The Oxford & Cambridge Society of Philadelphia.
Oliver received ‘The Distinguished Friend of Oxford’ Award in September and last month was elected an Honorary Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford where he studied as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. Honorary Fellows are expected to enter the intellectual life of the college and university. Oliver has put forth several projects including presenting a college lecture on American fiction this spring.
