In 2013, Lalacos was named head of the liaison office in Skopije, Macedonia. There, he dealt with, among other things, Greece’s refusal to allow the country to call itself Macedonia. Lalacos remained there until being sent to Washington. One of his challenges will be to get help for his country as it deals with its refugee crisis, with thousands landing there and being forced to remain in camps.   read more

Trained in public international law, Daddah served as head of documentation and the research center of the Moktar Ould Daddah Foundation, the organization founded in honor of Daddah’s father, who served as Mauritania’s president from 1959 until he was ousted in a 1978 coup. The younger Daddah also worked as administrative and finance director of Invest Consulting, which promoted foreign investment in Mauritania.   read more

In 1998, Etoundi Essomba returned to Israel, this time as ambassador. He spent 17 years there, raising his four children with his wife, Esther. During his tenure, Cameroon became an ally of Israel, often voting against anti-Israeli measures at the UN. For its part, Israel trains some of Cameroon’s military and supplies it with weaponry. Etoundi Essomba had been dean of Israel’s diplomatic corps for several years when he left for Washington.   read more

She returned to Guatemala in 2003 and made an unsuccessful bid for the vice-presidency of the country. In 2004, she helped found the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala which worked to stop clandestine security groups in the country. In 2009, she became coordinator of the National Legal Group, which advises the Foreign Ministry regarding the claim by Guatemala in its border dispute against Belize before the International Court of Justice.   read more

In 2001, Pantelides was made ambassador to Greece. He returned to Cyprus in 2008 to serve as the head of the diplomatic office for President Demetris Christofias. He was caught up in some controversy when, after Cypriot forces in 2009 confiscated munitions from a ship bound for Syria, the contraband exploded in a naval yard in 2011, killing 13. Christofias and Pantelides were among those found to be at least partly responsible for the failure to secure the munitions.   read more

In 2001, Vives Balmaña was named head of protocol and administrative affairs for the Conseil General, the country’s legislature, a position she held until 2015. In 2012, she also took on the presidency of the Andorran National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Vives Balmaña was named Andorra’s representative to the United Nations in 2015 and added the U.S., Canada and Mexico to her portfolio the following year.   read more

Varricchio’s first ambassadorial post came in 2009, when he was sent to Belgrade, Serbia. While there, he advocated for Serbian membership in the European Union. By 2016, that country was a candidate member. He returned to Italy in 2012 as deputy secretary general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The following year, he was made diplomatic adviser to Prime Minister Enrico Letta.   read more

MacNaughton traveled to Washington with his boss and then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. MacNaughton has recounted, as a young functionary, having lunch with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. In 2005, MacNaughton became president of Strategy Corp., a government relations firm. He also served as board chairman of Comcare, a home care provider, and Aereus Technologies, a startup in Ontario. MacNaughton remained at Strategy until being appointed ambassador.   read more

in 2002 Agius served as diplomatic counselor to then-President Guide de Marco. In 2004, he went to Vienna as Malta’s deputy head of mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the UN organizations there and the International Atomic Energy Agency. In 2007, he was named special envoy in Slovenia. The following year, he assumed his first ambassadorial post, in Belgium. He held ambassadorships to Luxembourg in 2009 and subsequently to NATO.   read more

Young came home in 2003 to serve as senior watch officer in the State Department Operations Center. The following year, he began a stint as foreign policy adviser to Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut). In 2005, he was made desk officer for Italy and San Marino in the State Department’s Bureau of European Affairs, then in 2007 was sent to Paris as political counselor in the embassy there.   read more

In Africa, he helped pressure the government to sign a natural gas pipeline deal with Enron. McKinley went to Afghanistan in September 2013 as deputy ambassador. He was nominated as ambassador the following May and was confirmed in December 2014. During his tenure there, McKinley was the face of U.S. efforts to rebuild Afghanistan even as fighting continued in some areas. He also promoted the expansion of women’s rights in that nation.   read more

DeLaurentis played a crucial role in negotiations between the U.S. and Cuba over the status of Elian Gonzalez, the boy who left Cuba with his mother, who died on the journey. DeLaurentis is seen as an excellent candidate for the post, enjoying good relations with the Cuban government. However, his hopes for a quick confirmation were dashed when Republican senators including Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, both sons of Cuban immigrants, vowed to oppose any ambassador being named to the country.   read more

In 2013, he was named ambassador to Burkina Faso, becoming the first African-born naturalized U.S. citizen to serve as an ambassador on that continent. Mushingi’s tenure in Burkina Faso was eventful, with longtime President Blaise Compaoré being forced out of office after making an attempt to gain an unconstitutional third term. Mushingi played a prominent role during that time and as an attempted coup was staged after Compaoré went into exile.   read more

Donovan returned to Tokyo in 2005 as deputy chief of mission in the embassy there. During his tenure, he had to help manage the reaction to a U.S. Marine being accused of raping a girl in Okinawa. He had a short stint as an associate professor at the National War College before being named foreign policy adviser to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In 2014, he was named managing director of the American Institute in Taiwan’s Washington office, a post held until he became ambassador.   read more

After beginning his diplomatic career tracking protests and politics in Honduras, he moved to Spain and worked on economic issues before serving as the ambassador’s aide during Desert Shield and Desert Storm. In Mexico, Symington cultivated the political opposition, worked on anti-drug issues, helped congressional visitors looking at NAFTA, and reported from Chiapas during the Zapatista revolt.   read more

Whalen moved to Washington after Obama was inaugurated in 2009 to serve as special assistant to Duncan. The following year, she was named Director of the Implementation Support Unit, which gives technical assistance to states and districts that are putting reform programs in place, including the Race to the Top program. Whalen left government service in 2014 to become Director of Policy for Education Post, a website dedicated to improving public schools.   read more