David James Shearer (born 28 July 1957) is a New Zealand United Nations worker and politician. He was a member of the New Zealand Parliament for the Labour Party from 2009 to 2016, serving as Leader of the Opposition from 2011 to 2013. Shearer spent nearly 20 years working for the UN, managing the provision of aid to countries including Somalia, Rwanda, Liberia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Iraq. In 1992, Shearer was (together with his wife) named as New Zealander of the Year by The New Zealand Herald. On 13 June 2009 he won the Mount Albert by-election and entered the House of Representatives. He was elected as leader of the Labour Party on 13 December 2011 but resigned on 15 September 2013, being succeeded by David Cunliffe. Shearer resigned from Parliament in December 2016 and in 2017 was appointed to head the United Nations peace keeping mission in South Sudan. in January 2021, he was succeeded in the role by Nicholas Haysom. Early life Shearer was born and brought up in the Auckland suburb of Papatoetoe. He was the eldest of three children in a family of schoolteachers. His father being a Presbyterian elder, he was a church-goer in his youth. He attended Papatoetoe High School, where he was head boy and Phil Goff was a friend. He graduated from the University of Auckland with a BSc and the University of Canterbury with a MSc (Hons) in Resource Management. From 1983 to 1987 he was a teacher at Massey High School and Onehunga High School. Public service and non-government organisation career Shearer has conducted various assignments with the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Save the Children Fund, and the International Crisis Group, and is the author of numerous publications in the areas of humanitarian affairs and conflict resolution. Between 1987 and 1989 he was a consultant for the Tainui Trust Board assisting with the preparation of its land claims to the Waitangi Tribunal. In 1989 he was appointed as UN Co-ordinator for Humanitarian Operations in Africa and the Balkans and served as head of the Save the Children Fund in Rwanda, Somalia, Northern Iraq and Sri Lanka. In 1995 he served as the Senior Humanitarian Affairs Adviser in Liberia. From 1999 Shearer served in various UN posts including Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for the United Nations in Rwanda, Senior Humanitarian Adviser in Albania and Chief of the United Nations