In June 2010, Ciocoi was appointed to his first ambassadorship, as envoy to Germany. In March 2011, he was named non-resident ambassador to Denmark as well. After spending the first nineteen years of his diplomatic career focused on Europe, Ciocoi himself was “surprised” when he was appointed to serve as ambassador to China, with concurrent accreditation to Vietnam, in October 2015. He served in Beijing until April 2017, when he was recalled in anticipation of his U.S. assignment.   read more

Olofsdotter joined the Swedish Foreign Service in 1994. Her first foreign posting was in Moscow, where she was responsible for covering issues related to Belarus. She also served on the Swedish delegation to NATO. She next served at Sweden’s mission to the EU in Belgium, and chaired the EU’s Political-Military Group during the Swedish presidency of the EU in 2001. Her first posting in the U.S. was as minister-counselor and deputy chief of mission at the Swedish Embassy in Washington, DC.   read more

Johnson joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1992 and has been posted overseas at U.S. embassies in Lebanon, Pakistan, Angola and South Africa. She was also detailed to the Office of the Secretary General of NATO in Belgium. Johnson served as director for Middle East Affairs at the National Security Council starting in 2001. She also served as deputy director of the State Department’s Office of Canadian Affairs and as senior advisor for South and Central Asia in the Office of the Vice President.   read more

Šimunović started his career as a journalist at Večernji List, a conservative daily newspaper in Zagreb, from 1988 to 1990. He covered the unraveling of the Soviet empire in Eastern Europe, including free elections in Poland, the Romanian Revolution, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and other events. He later served as national coordinator for NATO, as well as assistant minister for International Organizations and Security, from 2004 to 2008, and as ambassador to Israel from 2012 to 2016.   read more

In July 2014, McClenny was named chargé d’affaires in Caracas, Venezuela. With no ambassador at the embassy because of poor relations between the governments of the United States and Venezuela, McClenny bore the brunt of that government’s attacks. This included a meeting with Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza on August 12, 2017, after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested he was considering using “the military option” against Venezuela.   read more

Katende’s appointment was reportedly precipitated by a need for someone with broad skills and deep experience to deal with the new Trump administration. A longtime diplomat, Katende served as Uganda’s ambassador to Sudan from 2003 to 2008, when crises in both the Darfur and South Sudan regions reached critical states. From 2008 to mid-2017, Katende was Uganda’s top diplomat in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where numerous UN, African, and regional organizations have their headquarters.   read more

An island nation whose survival is threatened by global warming sent its top diplomat to Washington even as the U.S. government seems overrun with climate science deniers. Jumeau, while urging the U.S. to support the Kyoto Protocol after Pres. George W. Bush refused, said, “The US is obviously the biggest polluter of all. To them, maybe we don't figure in the grand scheme of things, maybe we don't have clout...so people think we can be ignored ... but our whole country will disappear one day.”   read more

Mulhall was awarded his first ambassadorship--in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia--from 2001 to 2005, as well as being ambassador to Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. His service coincided with the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004, which killed more than 230,000 people. From 2009 to 2013, he was ambassador to Germany, after which he was ambassador to the UK. While in Britain, he spoke regularly on political, literary and historical topics at universities and literary festivals all over the country.   read more

In 1997, Edmunds worked as a consultant for a year before joining Caribbean-Central American Action, a private economic development organization. He started as director of marketing and business development and worked his way up to executive director and CEO in 2008. Since 2009, he has run his own consulting firm, Edmunds Group International, which advises corporations and governments on doing business in the Caribbean region. He remained with his consultancy until taking the Washington post.   read more

As Russia became more aggressive to its neighbors, Lepik, as Estonia's ambassador to NATO, urged that NATO troops be stationed in the Baltic states as a tripwire to a Russian attack. Indeed, an Estonian military base was converted into a NATO air surveillance base. There was concern from some in the region about President Trump’s close relations with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Lepik said he was glad that Vice President Mike Pence made a stop in Estonia this past summer.   read more

An entrepreneur with no previous diplomatic experience, Espina once worked as a real estate investor and was involved in the fashion industry. He later founded Guatemala Prospera, whose goal is to instill moral and cultural values in Guatemalans, based on the teachings of American evangelical pastor John Maxwell. Espina is close to many Republicans, such as Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Those ties are seen in Guatemala as a major reason for Espina’s appointment.   read more

Gutieriez was dean and a member of the Board of Governors of Sacred Heart College, then became manager of marketing, logistics, corporate communication and business development for the oil company, Belize Natural Energy. In 2016 he took his first ambassadorial post, serving as his country’s representative to Caricom, the Caribbean Community, headquartered in Georgetown, Guyana. In addition, Gutierez served as executive director of Belize’s Economic Development Council.   read more

Trump is placing yet another multimillionaire in a position of power by naming Powell—whose $112 million net worth makes him the richest person at the Fed—to serve as the next chair of the Federal Reserve. Trump’s cabinet—which includes two billionaires and 11 multimillionaires—is the wealthiest in history, so Powell should fit right in. In 2011, Powell focused on persuading Congress to raise the federal debt ceiling at the same time that Trump was publicly pushing in the opposite direction.   read more

Danies served as management officer and chargé d’affaires in Belize, during and after Hurricane Mitch in 1998, when he used his authority to declare a disaster in order to allow U.S. aid to begin flowing. From 2011 to 2014, Danies served as deputy Haiti special coordinator, helping his native land recover from the devastating earthquake of January 2010. In that role, Danies sometimes found himself in awkward positions trying to explain American policies that were unpopular among Haitians.   read more

Trump announced Azar’s nomination on Twitter, saying he would: “be a star for better healthcare and lower drug prices.” Actually, Azar has resisted drug-price controls. During his tenure as a senior VP at drug giant Eli Lilly, the company increased the price of its insulin product, Humalog, by 345%. “This is a slap in the face to millions of Americans who are waiting on [the President] to take action to lower drug prices," said Rep. Elijah Cummings of the nomination.   read more

Under Verma’s “Healthy Indiana Plan,” healthcare in the state has gone from bad to worse. In 2006, it was the 33rd healthiest state in a ranking by American Public Health Association and the United Health Foundation. By 2015, Indiana had fallen to 41st nationwide, The Washington Post reported. Verma has also consulted on similar plans for Michigan, Tennessee and Iowa. Her Indiana Plan removed people from Medicaid if they failed to contribute to a health savings account.   read more