To many people, the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu (pop.: 12,177) is best known for the fact that it won the coveted Internet country domain extension .tv. The nation sent a new ambassador to the U.S. late last year who is concurrently accredited as his country's permanent representative to the United Nations in New York, partly because Tuvalu does not own an embassy in Washington, D.C. Aunese Makoi Simati presented his credentials to President Barack Obama on January 14, 2013.   read more

Despite an anti-corruption rule adopted in 2002 barring high ministry bureaucrats from becoming ambassadors, the new ambassador to the U.S. is Kenichiro Sasae, most recently vice minister for foreign affairs. Sasae served as deputy minister for foreign affairs from 2008 to 2010, and as vice minister for foreign affairs, the top civil service job at the Foreign Ministry, from 2010 to 2012.   read more

Schnepf served as secretary of state for foreign relations and security in the office of Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz from October 31, 2005 to June 1, 2006, when he was forced to resign over comments he made in support of a controversial gas pipeline, although some said that he was simply caught in an internal power struggle. Schnepf’s exile from government did not last long. In December 2008, Schnepf returned to serve a second stint as ambassador to Spain.   read more

He is no stranger to the U.S., having served in Boston as consul from 1983 to 1985 and as consul general there until 1989, and as consul general in Los Angeles from September 1994 to 1999. Panagopoulos served as ambassador of Greece to Cyprus from 2000 to 2005, and as ambassador to Serbia from July 2005 to late 2008. Back in Athens, he was director of the Diplomatic Cabinet of the Foreign Minister, and of the Alternate Minister, from 2008 to 2012.   read more

From May 2008 to late 2012, Altangerel was ambassador to the United Kingdom, resident in London and concurrently accredited to South Africa, Ireland and Iceland. Altangerel speaks Russian, English and Spanish. An enthusiastic equestrian, Altangerel owns a dozen horses and even attended Royal Ascot while posted to London.   read more

A 25-year veteran of federal law enforcement, Shawn A. Bray acts on behalf of the Attorney General as the official U.S. representative to Interpol. He joined USNCB Interpol in February 2010, serving as deputy director in Washington through October 2012. Bray speaks fluent Spanish and is an enthusiastic owner of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.   read more

Kmec spent the first half of the new century's first decade as the number two man at two key embassies, serving as deputy chief of mission at Slovakia's embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel, from 2000 to 2002, and holding the same title at Slovakia's embassy in Washington, DC, from 2003 to 2005. Kmec was appointed to his first ambassadorship in 2007, serving as Slovakia's ambassador to Sweden from August 2007 to July 2012.   read more

Perez has served in the Department of Justice as assistant attorney general for Civil Rights, the nation’s top civil rights enforcer, since 2009. In January 2007, he entered Maryland state government, when he was appointed acting secretary of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation, a position that became permanent in March 2007, and which he held until his appointment to the Justice Department in 2009.   read more

Even more insidious than outright corruption, argue such critics, is the fact that the continually revolving door between Wall Street and its regulators creates a financial industry culture shared by both bankers and their regulators, who come to see themselves as part of the financial system—and hope eventually to be rewarded by the profit-making companies they are supposed to regulate and prosecute.   read more

Literally caught with its pants down in last year's prostitution scandal—in which 13 Secret Service employees brought women, including prostitutes, back to their hotel in Cartagena, Colombia—the U.S. Secret Service for the first time has a woman as its leader, tasked with restoring the agency's tarnished reputation. A career law enforcement executive with more than 30 years of experience with the Secret Service, Julia A. Pierson was sworn in as its 23rd Director on March 27, 2013.   read more

Jones served her first ambassadorship from April 2008 to June 2011, as ambassador to Kuwait. She has been a scholar-in-residence at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC, since July 2011. Jones is married to fellow Foreign Service officer Richard G. Olson, who has been ambassador to Pakistan since September 2012.   read more

Knight was appointed to his first ambassadorship by President Barack Obama in 2009, serving as ambassador to the West African nation of Benin from September 2009 to December 2012, when he was appointed assistant chief of mission at the embassy in Baghdad.   read more

His leadership of the Energy Initiative has drawn criticism from environmentalists and others because large fossil fuel companies gave up to $25 million each to the Initiative, which has released reports supportive of fracking, nuclear energy and other non-renewable technologies. Moniz has served on the boards of directors of or as an advisor to enriched uranium company USEC (2002-2004), BP (2005–2011), and General Electric (2006-present).   read more

McCarthy's career in the Bay State culminated with stints as undersecretary for policy at EOEA from 1999 to 2003 and as deputy secretary at the Massachusetts Office of Commonwealth Development from 2003 to 2004. McCarthy served as commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection from 2004 to 2009. She has served as Assistant EPA Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation since 2009.   read more

Vance-Cooks joined GPO in 2004 and has held a succession of senior management positions. She was named chief of staff in January 2011, and was promoted to deputy public printer in December 2011 by Public Printer Bill Boarman, whose recess appointment expired at the end of 2011 when Senate Republicans blocked a vote on his nomination.   read more

Leaving government after the 2000 election, Burwell was immediately hired by the Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation to work as its chief operating officer and executive director, posts she held from January 2001 until a reorganization in 2006, when she became president of Global Development. Passed over for the CEO position when it became available in 2008, Burwell left the Gates Foundation in late 2011 to become president of the Wal-Mart Foundation, which she led starting in January 2012.   read more