The next U.S. ambassador to the South American nation of Peru will be a Latin America specialist who has served in Lima before. Brian A. Nichols, who has been principal deputy assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs since May 2011, was tapped for the post by President Barack Obama on June 21, 2013. If confirmed by the Senate, Nichols would succeed Rose M. Likins, who has served in Lima since September 2010.
Born circa 1965, Nichols earned a B.S. at Tufts University in 1987 and joined the Foreign Service in 1989.
The first assignment Nichols received was to serve as a consular officer at the embassy in Lima, Peru, followed by service as a political officer at the embassy in San Salvador, El Salvador; as first secretary and deputy political counselor in Mexico City, Mexico, from 1998 to 2001; and as political counselor at the embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, from 2001 to 2004.
Back in Washington, Nichols served as director of the Office of Caribbean Affairs in the Department of State Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs from 2004 to 2007.
From August 2007 to July 2010, he served as deputy chief of mission at the embassy in Bogotá, Colombia.
Starting in August 2010, Nichols served in the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), first as INL’s deputy assistant secretary and then, beginning May 25, 2011, as principal deputy assistant secretary.
Nichols is married to fellow Foreign Service Officer Geraldine Kam. They have two daughters.
-Matt Bewig
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