Mark M. Boulware was confirmed as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Chad on September 29, 2010.

 

Boulware was born in 1948 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In 1956, he and his family, parents Everett and Alice, and three siblings, moved to Iowa Park, Texas, where his parents purchased and operated a Harvey’s Restaurant.

 

Boulware studied at the Université Rennes 2- Haute Bretagne in Rennes, France. He then attended Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, where he earned his B.A. in 1971 and his M.A. in 1974.

 

He served as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army, with tours of duty in Pirmasens, Germany and Hawthorne, Nevada. He was a captain at the time he left active duty.

 

In 1980, Boulware joined the Foreign Service. He took overseas posts as General Services Officer in Jakarta, Indonesia from 1980 to 1982, Consular Officer in Maracaibo, Venezuela from 1982 to 1985, as Supervisory General Services Officer in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso from 1985 to 1987, and Administrative Officer in Banjul, The Gambia from 1987 to 1989.

 

From 1989 to 1990, Boulware was assigned to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Pearson Fellow, working for Congressman Dante Fascell (D-Florida). From 1990 to 1993, he served as Administrative Counselor in Gaborone, Botswana. The following year he attended and graduated from the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He then returned to Foreign Service duties, posted as Administrative Counselor in Bamako, Mali from 1994 to 1996, Deputy Chief of Mission in Yaoundé, Cameroon from 1996 to 1999, Deputy Chief of Mission at the American Embassy in San Salvador from 1999 to 2001, and U.S. Consul General in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from October 2001 to July 2004.

 

Boulware also worked as a Faculty Advisor at the National War College, and as Diplomat in Residence at Florida International University in Miami, Florida (2004-2005). Prior to his mission in Chad, he served as U.S. Ambassador to Mauritania from 2007 to 2010.

 

Boulware speaks Portuguese, Spanish, French and Indonesian.

 

Boulware and his wife, Nora Jean, have three sons.