UK charity Embrace the Middle East has announced the appointment of its new chief executive, Tim Livesey, who will be joining the organisation in July. Livesey is currently Oxfam's head of policy and advocacy. He succeeds Jeremy Moodey.

Livesey has served as a senior adviser to both the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, and has worked as a diplomat in West and North Africa and at the British embassy in Paris. He was chief of staff for former leader of the opposition, Ed Miliband, and spent four years running Britain's aid programme in Nigeria.

He spent nearly 20 years in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, working on issues including the Middle East Peace Process and relations with Israel, Palestine, Lebanon and Libya. He also spent two years on secondment to Downing Street (2000-02) with responsibility for the then Prime Minister's, foreign policy communications. For several years he was a trustee of Progressio, the faith-based development agency.

He said of his appointment: 'Supporting the Christian communities of the Middle East has never been a more urgent and important task. It is an enormous privilege to be given the opportunity to work with the staff, trustees and supporters of Embrace the Middle East in delivering on that challenge. The dedication, skill and courage of Embrace's Christian partners in the region, striving as they do to meet the needs of the poorest and most disadvantaged in the whole community, is a huge motivation.'

He added: 'I really hope that in the coming years, with the help of our generous supporters in the UK, we will find ways to extend the reach of Embrace and our partners to serve an even wider community of those in the greatest need, in the lands that first heard the good news of the Gospel.'

Embrace's chair of trustees Canon Anthony Ball said of LIvesey: 'He comes with a wealth of knowledge and practical experience that will enable the charity to grow and to deliver on our ambitious strategic plan. Tim's appointment marks the start of a new and exciting phase of Embrace's history. The whole team is looking forward to his arrival.'