Marisa Micallef presented her credentials as Malta’s ambassador to the United States to President Barack Obama on September 17, 2013. She replaced Joseph Cole, a career diplomat who’d been in the post less than a year.
Micallef attended secondary school at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Malta, and then went to the University of Malta, graduating with a degree in French and English. She left for Great Britain, where she lived for 15 years. Micallef worked on housing issues, particularly among the elderly, and published research, “Difficult To Let Sheltered Housing: An Exploratory Study For Anchor Housing Association” on the subject.
She returned to Malta in 1998 and was made chairperson of that nation’s housing authority, serving in that post for 10 years. She also became active in politics with the Nationalist Party, running in a district election under its auspices. In addition, Micallef wrote columns for the Malta Independent newspaper, often critical of Malta’s Labour Party.
In 2009, Micallef, with much fanfare, switched her political allegiance to the Labour Party at the behest of its leader Joseph Muscat, in an effort to woo Nationalist voters. Muscat, for whom Micallef served as an advisor for several years, is now Malta’s prime minister.
Micallef has a daughter. A cousin, Mark Micallef, is Malta’s ambassador to Spain.
-Steve Straehley
To Learn More:
Former Labour Critic Set to Become Malta’s Ambassador in the U.S. (by Jurgen Balzan, Malta Today)
