President Barack Obama choice as the next U.S. ambassador to Mexico is Earl Anthony “Tony” Wayne, a high-ranking career diplomat who has spent little time in Latin America.

 

Born in 1950 in Sacramento, California, Wayne grew up in Concord, where he graduated from high school in 1968. He attended college at UC Berkeley, earning a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1972. He later acquired two master’s degrees in political science (Stanford University 1973 and Princeton University 1975) plus a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University (1984).

 

A career diplomat since 1975, his first postings were as a political officer in Rabat, Morocco, and as a China analyst in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. During the tenure of Secretary of State Ed Muskie, Wayne served in the State Department’s Executive Secretariat.

 

From 1981 to 1983, he was special assistant to Secretaries of State Alexander Haig and George Shultz.

 

He served as first secretary at the U.S. embassy in Paris, France (1984-1987).

 

Wayne took a leave of absence from 1987 to 1989 to work as the national security correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor.

 

After returning to the State Department, he was director for regional affairs for the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Counter-Terrorism from 1989 to 1991.

 

For most of the 1990s, Wayne worked on European affairs, helping organize the semi-annual U.S.-EU summits, formulate and negotiate the U.S.-EU New Transatlantic Agenda, and playing a role in the Stability Pact Summit held in Sarajevo in 1999.

 

From 1991 to 1993, he was director for Western European affairs at the National Security Council.

 

Wayne was deputy chief of mission at the U.S. mission to the European Union (1993-1996), followed by deputy assistant secretary for Europe and Canada (1996-1997), and principal deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of European Affairs (1997-2000).

 

From June 2000 until June 2006, Wayne was assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs, making him the longest serving assistant secretary since the inception of that bureau. He served as interim under secretary for economic, business and agricultural affairs for six months in 2005. During this time, he also served as U.S. foreign affairs “sous sherpa” helping to prepare the Gleneagles G-8 Summit, in addition to his duties as assistant secretary.

 

Wayne’s first ambassador role took him to Argentina from November 2006 to June 2009.

 

He later held the position of coordinating director for development and economic affairs, overseeing U.S. government non-military assistance to Afghanistan. In May 2010, he was appointed deputy ambassador in Kabul, putting him in charge of all embassy sections, programs, agencies and offices.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Official Biography (U.S. Embassy Argentina)