Appointments and Resignations
Costa Rica’s Ambassador to the United States: Who Is Román Macaya?
He joined his family business in 2002, managing Agroquimica Industrial RIMAC, an agricultural chemical firm. In 2009, Macaya campaigned for the presidential nomination of the Citizens Action Party. He came in third in the party’s primary with 9% of the vote. He continued managing Agroquimica Industrial RIMAC until his appointment as ambassador. At that time, he also had to renounce his U.S. citizenship. read more
Panama’s Ambassador to the United States: Who Is Emanuel González-Revilla?
González-Revilla was founder and director of BellSouth Panama and BellSouth Guatemala wireless services. From 2000 to 2004, González-Revilla also served as a director of the Panama Canal Commission.
In 2005, González-Revilla became president of Panama Power Holdings, which develops and operates hydro-electric power facilities in his home country. He remained with that company until being named ambassador.
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El Salvador’s Ambassador to the United States: Who Is Francisco Altschul?
In March 2009, for the first time, an FMLN candidate, Mauricio Funes, was elected president of El Salvador. Four months later, Altschul was appointed chargé d’affaires at the embassy of El Salvador in Washington, D.C., and eight months after that, he moved up to ambassador. He served until 2013, when he was replaced by Ruben Zamora. In August 2014, Zamora was moved to the United Nations in New York and Altschul was brought back as ambassador in Washington. read more
Armenia’s Ambassador to the United States: Who Is Tigran Sargsyan?
Sargsyan was selected as prime minister in April 2008 and was reappointed in 2012 and 2013. At first he was not a member of any political party, but he later joined the Republican Party of Armenia. In 2011, Sargsyan survived a financial crisis in his country when the inflation rate hit 9.4%, sending thousands of Armenians into poverty. Sargsyan was pushed out as prime minister in April 2014 when a pension reform plan he championed was found to be illegal under Armenian law. read more
Bangladesh’s Ambassador to the United States: Who Is Mohammed Ziauddin?
In May 2000, Ziauddin was appointed ambassador to Italy with concurrent credentialing to Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina. He was also his country’s representative to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Program and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
After that assignment, Ziauddin served as an ambassador-at-large for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina until being named to the Washington post.
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Estonia’s Ambassador to the United States: Who Is Eerik Marmei?
Marmei was transferred to his country’s Washington embassy in 2000 as charge d’affaires. While there, he took a familiarization flight in a Blackhawk helicopter assigned to the Maryland National Guard. The craft had an emergency and was forced to land in the infield at Pimlico race track—a half hour before post time. read more
Somalia’s Ambassador to the United States: Who Is Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke?
His father, Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, was Somalia’s prime minister, and then president and was assassinated on October 15, 1969, by his bodyguards in the run-up to a military coup.
In 2009, Sharmarke was chosen to be prime minister by President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed as part of a Western-backed unity government. read more
Guinea’s Ambassador to the United States: Who Is Mamady Condé?
Condé signed a treaty with South Korea, initiating ambassador-level relations between the nations for the first time, the last African nation to do so. Guinea had exchanged ambassadors with North Korea as early as 1960.
In 2013, Condé was named Guinea’s ambassador to Italy, serving until early 2014. He then came home briefly to be deputy head of administration, with control over major projects.
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Postmaster General: Who Is Megan Brennan?
No one can accuse Brennan of taking the easy road to the top. She began with the Postal Service in 1986 as a letter carrier in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She subsequently worked her way up the ladder as a delivery and collection supervisor, processing plant manager in Reading and Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, and a district manager in Springfield, Massachusetts. read more
Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: Who Is Mark Rosekind?
Mark R. Rosekind, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), was nominated by President Barack Obama on November 18, 2014, to lead the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. During his career, Rosekind has specialized in issues relating to sleep and fatigue. At his Senate confirmation hearing on December 3, Rosekind said that, if confirmed, his “first focus will be on the recall defect and reporting process." read more
Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the United States: Who Is Prasad Kariyawasam?
In 2009, Kariyawasam was made high commissioner to India, as well as ambassador to Afghanistan and Bhutan. While in New Delhi, Kariyawasam created a controversy when he urged that some Indian Members of Parliament be investigated for ties to the Tamil Tigers, the rebel group that fought a civil war in Sri Lanka for more than 25 years. read more
Executive Director of the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion: Who Is Angela Tagtow?
Tagtow has been somewhat of a lightning rod for criticism from the right for her work to make food systems sustainable and ecologically sound, being accused of wanting to force plant-based diets and grass-fed meat and dairy animal products on Americans. read more
Ambassador to the United States from Cabo Verde: Who Is José Luis Rocha?
José Luis Fialho Rocha, a longtime member of his country’s foreign ministry, took over as Cabo Verde’s ambassador to the United States on May 12, 2014. Cabo Verde, also known as Cape Verde, is located off the coast of West Africa and has a population 0f about 512,000. More than 100,000 Americans are of Cape Verdean ancestry or were born in Cabo Verde. read more
Ambassador to Afghanistan: Who Is P. Michael McKinley?
McKinley got his first ambassadorial post in 2007 in Lima, Peru. Shortly after assuming his post, he helped coordinate the U.S. response to the August 2007 earthquake. In September 2010, he was sent to Colombia to serve as ambassador there.
McKinley went to Afghanistan in September 2013 as deputy ambassador, a role he continues to serve in as he awaits Senate confirmation.
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U.S. Ambassador to Mali: Who Is Paul Folmsbee?
In 2003, Folmsbee published a novel, Flight of the Feathered Serpent, about two Icelanders who are shipwrecked in 12th century Mexico.
Folmsbee was sent to Pakistan in 2006 as director of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, working on counter-terrorism issues. The following year, he was embedded with the U.S. Army’s 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq as a Provincial Reconstruction Team team leader. read more
U.S. Ambassador to South Sudan: Who Is Molly Phee?
Phee served as a desk officer for United Nations (UN) political affairs in the International Organizations Bureau but took a break to do a tour in al-Amarah, Iraq, as “governate coordinator” (a.k.a. senior civilian representative of the Coalition Provisional Authority) of Maysan Province for several months beginning in November 2003. This position was considered so dangerous that she was supplied with twenty bodyguards. read more