Minister described it as the best department in Whitehall, and the OECD called it the best development agency in the world. Governor of Bermuda (2002-2007) In 2002 Sir John was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Bermuda, acting as de facto head of state, with direct responsibility for ensuring the safety, security and good governance of the territory. His initial three-year term was extended at the request of the British Government to nearly six years. He continued to engage with international development issues while in Bermuda. He hosted many key international figures – including the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the President of the World Bank and two British Prime Ministers – at Government House. He led the discussion on public finance for infrastructure at the Commonwealth Finance Ministers meeting in 2003, was an adviser to the United Nations Millennium Project in 2004, led the discussion of catastrophe insurance at the World Bank/International Monetary Fund annual meeting in 2005 and was a member of Paul Volcker's panel on the World Bank's institutional integrity in 2007. He was succeeded as Governor of Bermuda by Sir Richard Gozney in December 2007. Later career Sir John joined the main Board of XL Group plc as an independent Director in 2007 and served through the financial crisis of 2008, the acquisition of the Catlin Group in 2015 and the eventual merger with AXA in 2017 - 2018. He was an independent Director of the board of two Axa XL companies, CUAL and XLCICL, from 2017-20. Between 2010 and 2016, Sir John was also an independent Director of MWH Global, a leading US water infrastructure engineering company, from 2010-16, when it was acquired by Stantec. Other positions and activities Sir John Vereker has held a variety of positions with several other organisations: Ditchley Foundation (Governor) Student Loans Company (Chair, 1989-1991) Raleigh International (Vice-Chair) British Council (board member) Institute of Development Studies (board member) Institute for Employment Studies (board member) Voluntary Service Overseas (board member) Centre for Global Ethics (board member) British Consultancy and Construction Bureau (board member) Institute of Management (Companion) International Association for Digital Publications (Trustee, 2004-2008) He is the author of Blazing the Trail: Eight Years of Change in Handling International Development (2008), The search for the silver bullet: a personal perspective on 50 years of the international development effort (2020) and 'Adieu DFID - or is it Au Revoir' (2020). Recognition Vereker became