Rupa Mulina took over as the ambassador from Papua New Guinea to the United States in March 2014, about a year and a half after his appointment was announced. Mulina is also accredited to Canada and Mexico.

Mulina is from Papua New Guinea’s Central Province. He came to the United States as a graduate student on a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship in 1987, studying at Boston University until 1988.

Mulina worked his way quickly through the ranks of the Papua New Guinea government. He served as deputy secretary in the Department of Finance and Planning and by 1994 was secretary of defense. In 1996 Mulina was secretary of finance and under his watch, the World Bank warned the government of Papua New Guinea of restrictions on future aid because it had not adhered to conditions of previous programs. Mulina was named to head the government-owned Papua New Guinea Banking Corporation in 1997. In 2003 he became the chairman of the Rural Development Bank.

Mulina also worked in the private sector and before his appointment as ambassador was manager of Ambate RG Pacific, a company promoting a geothermal project in Rabaul. He had previously worked as executive assistant to the chairman in Papua New Guinea’s Office of Climate Change.

-Steve Straehley