His Honour the Administrator is appointed by the Governor to represent them on Ascension and conduct business on their behalf. They are the head of the Ascension Island Government and an ex-officio member of the Island Council. The role has existed since 1964 when the first UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) official was appointed to the position.
The Administrator is at the same time His Majesty’s Representative, the Governor’s Representative and the UK Government’s Senior Representative on Ascension Island. They are the head of the Ascension Island Government and chairperson, in the Governor's absence, of the Ascension Island Council.
As head of the Ascension Island Government the Administrator is responsible for ensuring good governance of the territory for the general public and the major ‘users’ of Ascension Island. These are the US Air Force, the UK Ministry of Defence, the Composite Signals Organisation, the BBC and Sure South Atlantic.
The Administrator of Ascension Island is His Honour Rowan Laxton. Rowan was sworn in as the 27th Administrator of Ascension Island on 05 November 2025.
Rowan Laxton joined the then Foreign & Commonwealth Office in 1993, and has since worked on a range of commercial, defence, development, environmental, humanitarian, political and security issues across Africa, Europe and Asia, His last three appointments were as the FCDO’s Head of Overseas Security (2014–2017), UK High Commissioner to Cameroon (2017–2021) and, most recently, Deputy Director of the Ukraine Campaign Unit.