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NEWS ARCHIVE - APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS

Ambassador to Lebanon: Who Is Maura Connelly?

Sunday, August 29, 2010

President Barack Obama nominated Maura Connelly to be U.S. ambassador to the volatile Middle Eastern nation of Lebanon on June 3, 2010, and her Senate confirmation hearing was held on July 20. Connelly was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. At her confirmation hearing, New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez suggested that Connelly’s childhood experience in rough and tumble northern New Jersey would be an asset she can draw upon in Beirut: “Anyone who was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, could probably do very well in Lebanon,” Menendez quipped. Connelly was confirmed by the Senate on August 6.

Connelly earned a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a Masters in National Security Studies from the U.S. Naval War College. She began her career in government service during high school when she was a Senate page, and later worked as an elevator operator in the Capitol building while a student at Georgetown.

Connelly joined the State Department ca. 1985, and is now a member of the Senior Foreign Service. Much, though by no means all, of Connelly’s Foreign Service career has been spent on the Middle East. In the late 1980s, she served as the Political Officer and Acting Head of the Political Section at the U.S. embassy in Algiers, Algeria. She was the Deputy Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem between 1993 and 1996. Other overseas posts included Jordan and South Africa. She was also the Deputy Counselor for Political Affairs for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York.

Most recently, Connelly served the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq in 2003, as the Political Minister-Counselor for the U.S. Embassy in London, U.K., between 2005 and 2008. From 2008 to July 2009, she served as the Chargé d’Affaires for the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, Syria, which made her the ranking U.S. diplomat in the country. During this time she had to deal with Syrian anger over an October 26, 2008, U.S. helicopter raid that killed eight people inside Syria near its border with Iraq. The incident led to demonstrations and the temporary closing of the U.S. embassy in Damascus.

From July 2009 to July 2010, she was Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, working under Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman, himself a former U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon and an expert on Lebanon.

- Matt Bewig

Testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (pdf)

National Telecommunications and Information Administration: Who is Lawrence Strickling?
Sunday, August 29, 2010
	A technology policy expert with more than two decades of experience in the public and private sectors, Lawrence E. Strickling has served as Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information in the Department of Commerce since June 25, 2009, putting him in charge of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. A resident of Chicago who lived in President Obama’s Hyde Park neighborhood, Strickling grew up the son of Edward Strickling, a University of Maryland agronomy professor, and Cloria Stickling. He graduated from the same school Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in economics in 1973, and then earned his JD from Harvard Law School in 1976. Early in his career, Strickling was a litigation partner at the Chicago law firm of Kirkland & Ellis. He then worked for several years at Ameritech, a regional Bell holding company, eventually moving up to the position of vice president and associate general counsel in 1990 and vice-president of public policy in 1993, a position he held until September 1997, when he was named chairman of the Federal Communications Commission’s local competition enforcement task force. From 1998 to 2000 he was chief of the FCC’s Common Carrier Bureau, which dealt with local and long-distance telephone companies. He focused on such issues as deregulation, increasing competition and increasing broadband speeds In September 2000, he took over as executive vice-president and general counsel for St. Louis-based Internet backbone start-up CoreExpress, Inc. He became a member of the board of directors of Network Plus, an East Coast voice and data communications provider, in March 2001. He joined Allegiance Telecom in August 2002 as vice-president in charge of industry development. Strickling then worked as chief regulatory and chief compliance officer at Broadwing Communications for from Sptember 2004 until April 2007. During the 2008 presidential race, Strickling was a policy coordinator for Obama’s campaign, during which he oversaw two dozen domestic policy committees and was responsible for technology and telecommunications issues. Strickling has served on the board of visitors at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy, as chairman of the board of trustees at the University of Chicago’s Court Theatre, and as treasuer of the board of directors of Music of the Baroque in Chicago. Strickland is married to Sydney Hands, a professor at the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration. The couple has three sons. -David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff Lawrence Strickling (National Telecommunications and Information Administration)

National Marine Fisheries Service: Who is Eric Schwaab?
Saturday, August 28, 2010
	Eric C. Schwaab was appointed in February 2010 to run the National Marine Fisheries Service, part of the Department of Commerce. In this capacity he oversees the management and conservation of marine fisheries and the protection of marine mammals, sea turtles and coastal fisheries habitat within the United States exclusive economic zone. Schwaab grew up in West Baltimore and then farther west in Carroll County, Maryland. He received his undergraduate degree in biology from McDaniel College and a master’s degree in environmental planning from Towson University. He has spent the majority of his 25-year career in natural resource management working for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, where he began as a natural resources police law enforcement officer in 1983. In time he managed Deep Creek Lake State Park, served in waterfront and resource management positions with the State Forest and Park Service, and moved up to be director of the Maryland Forest Service; director of the Maryland Forest, Wildlife and Heritage Service; and director of the Maryland Fisheries Service. In 2003, Schwaab was fired after losing a fight over crabbing restrictions with Republican governor Robert Ehrlich, Jr., who reduced restrictions on behalf of seafood processors. Schwaab had been a leader in the battle save the blue crab population of the Chesapeake Bay. Schwaab then moved to Washington, D.C. to serve as resource director for the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. When Ehrlich lost his bid for reelection in 2006, Schwaab returned to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources as deputy secretary, making him the No. 2 for the agency. He served as a member of the U.S. Department of Commerce Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee from 2005-2010. -Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky Eric C. Schwaab, Assistant Administrator for Fisheries (NOAA)

Federal Co-Chair of the Delta Regional Authority: Who Is Chris Masingill?
Saturday, August 28, 2010
	After being nominated by President Barack Obama on April 22, 2010, Chris Masingill was confirmed by the Senate to be federal co-chair of the Delta Regional Authority (DRA) on June 24, 2010. DRA is an independent Federal/State partnership designed to stimulate economic development in the Mississippi River Delta Region, increase the area’s self-sufficiency, and help improve the lives of its nearly 9.5 million residents of the 252 counties and parishes in the parts of the eight states that make up this economically distressed region. These states are Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee. Born in Texas ca. 1973, Chris Masingill’s family has roots in Morrilton, Arkansas, although he earned his Bachelor’s degree from Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, Texas, where he volunteered to work on several area municipal campaigns, and served as student body president for the 1996-1997 academic year. After graduating in 1997, Masingill went to work for Blanche Lincoln’s successful 1998 U.S. Senate campaign as deputy finance manager. After Lincoln was elected, Masingill served as assistant to her chief of staff. In 2000, he was Special Projects Assistant during Congress’s establishment of the Delta Regional Authority. Working for Senator Lincoln, he focused on appropriations and special projects concerning community and economic development. Dispatched by Lincoln to work on Mike Ross’s congressional campaign, Masingill helped Ross to victory and then served as his District Director from 2001 to 2005. Beginning in February 2005, he was interim executive director of Arkansas’ Democratic Party for a 90-day transition period. At that time, he was already vice chairman of the Garland County Democratic Central Committee.. In 2006, he was Governor Mike Beebe’s gubernatorial campaign manager. After Beebe’s election win, the Governor rewarded his manager by appointing him as Arkansas’s Recovery Implementation Director for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, as well as Director of Intergovernmental Affairs, which acts as the official liaison between the Governor’s office and the federal delegation, federal agencies and the National Governors Association. He was also the Governor’s chief policy advisor to the Arkansas Economic Development Commission and Arkansas’s official Designee and Alternate on the U.S. Delta Regional Authority’s board of directors. Masingill has also been active in professional and community organizations, including serving as an executive officer on the Arkansas Economic Developers Association Board of Directors and is currently a member of the Friends of Small Business Advisory Board for the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center. He also serves as a reserve deputy sheriff for Garland County, Arkansas. Masingill lives in Little Rock with his wife, Melissa Masingill, who is Director of Communications & Government Relations at Delta Dental of Arkansas. A Democrat, Masingill attended the 2008 Democratic convention as a Hilary Clinton delegate. In 2010, he donated $250 to Democrat Chad Causey, the party’s nominee to represent Arkansas’s First Congressional district. A year earlier, in 2009, Melissa Masingill donated $250 to the Democratic National Committee. -Matt Bewig Masingill tagged for Delta post Arkansan is president’s nominee to lead regional authority (by Alex Daniels, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette) Testimony before the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management, of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (pdf) 2002 Profile from Arkansas Business “40 Under Forty”

International Trade Administration: Who is Frank Sánchez?
Monday, August 23, 2010
	An early Florida supporter and major fundraiser for President Barack Obama, Francisco “Frank” J. Sánchez received a recess appointment in order to assume the post of Under Secretary for International Trade, becoming the No. 3 person in the Department of Commerce, while taking over the International Trade Administration, which is tasked with promoting and protecting U.S. companies involved in exporting. He received his confirmation hearing on May 13, 2009, but questions were raised about a federal grant for a steel company he headed, and his confirmation vote was put on hold. Finally, Obama gave Sánchez the recess appointment on March 27, 2010. Born June 16, 1969, in Tampa, Florida, Sánchez was the son of candy factory owner Francisco Sánchez, Sr. and Delia Sánchez, Sánchez obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Business and Spanish in 1982 and his Juris Doctor degree in 1986, both from Florida State University. He also received a Masters in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1993. In 1984 Sánchez began working for the Florida Department of Commerce as director of its Caribbean Basin Initiative. Three years later, after earning his law degree, he joined the law firm of Steel, Hector, and Davis in Miami, Florida, specializing in corporate and administrative law. In 1992, he moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and took a position as consultant for Conflict Management Inc. (CMI). His work centered on negotiation strategy, labor-management regotiations and litigation settlement, and developing Latin American clients for company. In September 1997, he and two partners created the CMI International Group, where his expertise was finding clients. Twenty months later, Sánchez joined the Clinton White House as a special assistant to the president and chief of staff to the Special Envoy to the Americas Kenneth MacKay, focusing on economic integration and democracy issues in the Western Hemisphere. After fifteen months in that position, he spent the last five months of Clinton’s presidency as the Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs in the Department of Transportation, where he developed aviation policy and oversaw international trade negotiations. In 2001, Sánchez settled in back in Tampa as founder and managing director of Cambridge Negotiation Strategies, He also ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Tampa in 2003, in a campaign that included an awkward moment when it was revealed that most of the 74 companies he claimed as clients of Cambridge Negotiation Strategies weren’t. In May 2006, Sánchez was hired on as CEO of Tampa-based Renaissance Steel, a position he held until it went bankrupt in November 2007. While he was heading Renaissance, it acquired a $500,000 federally-funded grant from the Corporation to Develop Communities of Tampa…of which he was member. Although Sánchez claimed that he was not personally involved in the deal, it was this incident that stalled his confirmation as head of the International Trade Association. In April 2008, Sánchez joined the Tampa law firm of Akerman Senterfitt. Accodring to the financial disclosure statement he filed upon his nomination, Sánchez owned about 50 residential mortgages which brought him annual interest income of somewhere between $156,000 and $445,000, while drawing a salary of $52,000 from Akerman Senterfitt and $45,000 from Cambridge Negotiation Strategies. Sánchez served as senior policy advisor to President Obama during the 2008 campaign, and was chairman of the National Hispanic Leadership Council, providing policy support on issues pertaining to Latin America. He also bundled more than $500,000 in contributions for the campaign. He has served on the boards of numerous civic and community organizations including the Tampa Chamber of Commerce (2004-2007), the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay (2004-present) and Bay Area Legal Services (2006-present). From 2005 to 2007, he was chairman of the board of the Patel Foundation for Global Understanding and its president and CEO from June 2006 until December 2007. The Foundation provides support for health, education and cultural programs non-governmental in Tampa, India and Africa. Sánchez has been a member of Leadership Florida, a creation of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, since 1989 and a member of The Tampa Club, a private social club, since 2001. Among other political contributions, Sánchez donated $2,000 to Al Gore’s presidential campaign in 2000, $2,500 to the Democratic National Committee in 2004, $500 to Hilary Clinton in 2008 and $4,600 to Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. -David Wallechinsky Francisco Sanchez (International Trade Administration) Francisco "Frank" J. Sanchez (WhoRunsGov, Washington Post) Political Patronage Pays Off (Manufacturing & Technology News, pages 1, 9-11) (pdf) Confirmation Hearing Details (pages 40-48) (pdf) Sanchez's Experience as Business Owner Brief (by David Karp, St. Petersburg Times)

Economic Development Administration: Who is John Fernandez?
Sunday, August 22, 2010
	As Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development, John Fernandez has led the Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) since September 14, 2009. The EDA is charged with encouraging private capital investments in economically distressed areas. A first generation American, Fernandez was born in Canton, Ohio, but grew up in Kokomo, Indiana. His parents emigrated from Spain during World War II, after his grandfather was killed fighting against Franco during the Spanish Civil War. Fernandez’s father worked in the auto industry and his mother was a nurse. Fernandez earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and his Juris Doctor from the Indiana University School of Law. After clerking for a state Supreme Court justice, Fernandez entered private practice as a member of Bingham Summers Welsh and Spilman’s litigation practice group. In 1987, he was elected to the Bloomington City Council and served as its president in 1991. He ran for mayor in 1995 and won, leading the city from 1996 to 2003. During this time, Fernandez worked with business and Indiana University leaders to launch the Bloomington Life Sciences Partnership, securing more than $243 million in private investments and creating more than 3,700 jobs. He also developed a downtown revitalization plan that brought in more than $100 million in new investments. Fernandez was the Indiana Democratic Party’s candidate for Secretary of State in 2002, but was defeated in the general election. He then joined Krieg DeVault, an Indianapolis-based law firm, advising public and private organizations, and worked as senior vice president at Finelight Strategic Marketing Communications, a Bloomington-based advertising agency. In April 2006, he also took over as president of the Heartland Development Group, but then moved on to become senior vice president and partner at First Capital Group, an Indiana-based real estate investment firm, which he joined January 1, 2007. Fernandez joined the Obama for Change Indiana leadership team in 2007 and served as a senior advisor and fundraiser. Since 2004, Fernandez has contributed more than $10,000 to the campaigns of Democratic candidates, most notably to Barack Obama ($2,405) Rep. Baron Hill ($2,250) and Sen. Evan Bayh ($1,000). Fernandez is married to Karen Howe Fernandez. -Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky John Fernandez Biography (Economic Development Administration) (pdf) President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts (White House) John Fernandez (WhoRunsGov)

Commissioner of Foreign Claims Settlement Commission: Who is Rafael Martinez?
Sunday, August 22, 2010
	Rafael E. “Ralph” Martinez has served as a part-time commissioner on the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission since his appointment in 2008 by President George W. Bush. He was sworn in on May 28, 2008. His term expires September 30, 2010. Martinez was born in Cuba to Gladys V. Ruíz and Melquíades C. Martínez. He and his older brother, Melquíades Rafael Martínez Ruiz (or Mel), fled Cuba and eventually wound up in Orlando, Florida. Mel Martinez went on to become the first Latino to serve as chairman of the Republican National Committee, as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (under Bush) and as Republican U.S. senator from Florida. Ralph Martinez received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Florida in 1973, and his Juris Doctorate from Florida State University in 1976. He began practicing law in Florida in 1977, embarking on a 30-year career as a civil litigator who handled cases in the Sunshine State and before the U.S. Supreme Court. He has specialized in defending doctors against malpractice lawsuits. Martinez is currently the managing partner of McEwan, Martinez & Dukes, P.A. In 2003, President George W. Bush nominated Martínez to serve as the U.S. representative on the Organization American States’ (OAS) Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, but, in an unprecedented action, the OAS rejected the nomination. This was seen both as a rebuke of the Bush administration’s own human rights violations and of Martínez as someone without qualifications for the position. Bush then chose Martinez to be a public delegate representing the United States before the United Nations 57th General Assembly. Martinez’s professional activities have included serving as a member of the Inter–American Bar Association (1979–present); the Ninth Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission (1990–1994; commission chair, 1993–1994); board of directors of the Health Law Section of the Florida Bar (1992–1997); Fifth District Court of Appeals Judicial Nominating Commission (1995–1999); American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) Central Florida Chapter (1996–present; president, 2004); International Association of Defense Counsel; Products Liability Committee (1996–present); Pharmaceutical Medical Device and Biotechnology Committee (1996–present); Judicial Relations Committee chairman (1997–1998); Orange County Bar Association, Professionalism Committee chairman (1999–2000); Medical Defense Committee chair (2000–2001); IADC Trial Academy faculty, Stanford University (2004); and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He has also served as SunTrust South Orlando Administrative Board Chairman (1988-2000); on the Orlando Regional Healthcare Foundation Board of Directors (1989-Present); Chairman of the Metropolitan YMCA for Central Florida (1992-1994); Central Florida Fair Association (1999-Present); CNL Bank Board of Directors (2002-Present); and the YMCA of the U.S.A. National Board Nominating Committee (2003-Present). Martinez has contributed to the campaigns of numerous Republican candidates, including Lamar Alexander, George W. Bush, Bill McCollum, Rick Santorum and…his brother, Mel Martinez. Martinez and his wife, Rebecca, have two daughters and a son. -Noel Brinkerhoff Commissioner Rafael E. Martinez (Foreign Claims Settlement Commission) Rafael E. Martinez (McEwan, Martinez & Dukes)

Director of National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency: Who is Letitia Long?
Saturday, August 21, 2010
	Not only is Letitia A. “Tish” Long the first woman selected to head the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), but, according to the Defense Department, she is also the first woman chosen to lead any of the federal government’s “major” intelligence agencies. Long was appointed to the position by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on February 22, 2010, and took over from retiring NGA director Robert Murrett on August 9. A native of Annapolis, Maryland, Long, 51, holds a degree in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech and a master’s in mechanical engineering from Catholic University. She began her federal civilian career with the U.S. Navy in 1978 as a project-engineer-in-training with the David Taylor Research Center (now known as the Carderock Division), and in time worked on various submarine acoustic sensor programs. In 1988, Long joined the staff of the director of naval intelligence, where she managed intelligence research and development programs. Six years later she was selected into the Senior Intelligence Executive Service and was given the titles of director of requirements, plans, policy and programs as well as the director of resource management for the director of naval intelligence staff. From 1994 to 1996, Long was on rotational assignment from naval intelligence to the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) as director of military intelligence staff director. In 1996, she joined DIA as the deputy director for information systems and services, where she directed DIA’s worldwide information technology and communications programs. She also became DIA’s first chief information officer. She served as director of for the CIA’s intelligence community affairs, responsible for policy formulation, resource planning and program assessment and evaluation between January 1998 and June 2000. From July 2000 to June 2003, Long served as deputy director of naval intelligence. Long was the deputy under secretary of defense for policy, requirements and resources, working for Donald Rumsfeld’s intelligence chief, Stephen Cambone, from June 2003 until May 2006. She then became the deputy director of the DIA in May 2006, a position she held at the time of her appointment to take over the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. In that capacity, she worked for James Clapper, who is currently the Director of National Intelligence. -Noel Brinkerhoff NGA Welcomes New Agency Director (National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency) Letitia A. Long Becomes First Female Director of NGA (by Marjorie Censer, Washington Post) Letitia Long Takes Helm of Pentagon Intelligence Agency (by Jeff Stein, Washington Post)

Chairman of Broadcasting Board of Governors: Who is Walter Isaacson?
Saturday, August 21, 2010
	President Barack Obama chose former Time managing editor and CNN executive Walter Isaacson to chair the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which runs Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and other international broadcasts of the U.S. government. He was nominated on November 18, 2009, but not confirmed by the Senate until June 30, 2010. Born May 20, 1952, in New Orleans, Louisiana, Isaacson graduated from the prep school Isidore Newman School and spent a summer at Deep Springs College as a participant in the Telluride Association Summer Program before attending Harvard. He received a bachelor’s degree in history and literature in 1974, and then attended Pembroke College at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, earning a Master of Arts in philosophy, politics, and economics in 1976. His journalism career began at The Sunday Times of London, before moving to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. In 1978 he joined Time and served the next 22 years at the national magazine as a political correspondent, national editor, and editor of new media before becoming managing editor in 1996. He became chairman and CEO of CNN in 2001, and two years later accepted the roles of president and CEO of The Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, DC. In October 2005, Democratic Governor Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana appointed Isaacson vice chairman of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, a 33-member policymaking board. In December 2007, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to chair the U.S.-Palestinian Partnership, which seeks to create economic and educational opportunities in the Palestinian territories. In addition, Isaacson has served as chairman of the board of Teach for America, and as a member of the board of Tulane University, United Airlines, and the Bipartisan Policy Center. He also has served as the co-chair of the U.S.-Vietnam Dialogue Group on Agent Orange, a project of The Aspen Institute. He was also a member of the Advisory Council of Permella Weinberg Partners, a corporate advisory and investment firm. A co-author of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made(1986), Isaacson has also written Kissinger: A Biography(1992), Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003), Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007), and American Sketches : Great Leaders, Creative Thinkers, and Heroes of a Hurricane (2009). -Noel Brinkerhoff Articles by Walter Isaacson (Aspen Institute) Broadcasting Board of Governors (AllGov)

Ambassador to Azerbaijan...Not So Fast: Who is Matthew Bryza?
Monday, August 16, 2010
	On May 25, 2010, President Barack Obama nominated Matthew J. Bryza to serve as U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan. Bryza is a veteran Foreign Service officer well-versed in the politics of the Caspian region, whose previous assignment put him in charge of European and Eurasian affairs for the State Department. On the surface, his confirmation seemed be a no-brainer, but the Armenian-American community expressed several concerns about Bryza. One is a possible conflict of interest relating to Bryza’s wife, Zeyno Baran, who was the Director of the Center for Eurasian Policy at the Hudson Institute, which receives funding from oil and gas interests that have an interest in U.S. business policy towards Azerbaijan. Other objections include Byrza’s position on the ongoing dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan regarding the territory of Nagorno-Karabagh, and Bryza’s tepid response to the December 2005 destruction of a 7th Century Armenian cemetery by the Azerbaijani military. Bryza’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was held on July 22. On August 3, at the request of Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-California), a vote on Bryza’s nomination was postponed until after Congress’ summer recess. The son of Kenneth and Carol Bryza, Matt Bryza attended college at Stanford University, where he received his bachelor’s degree in international relations. He earned his master’s degree in the same field from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. In 1988, Bryza joined the Foreign Service, and the following year was stationed in Poland at the U.S. Consulate in Poznań and the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, where he covered the "Solidarity" movement, reform of Poland’s security services and regional politics. He returned to Washington and worked on European and Russian affairs at the State Department during 1991-1995. Bryza was then sent to Russia to serve at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow during 1995-1997, first as special assistant to Ambassador Thomas Pickering, and then as a political officer covering the Russian Duma, the Communist Party, and the Republic of Dagestan in the North Caucasus. However, he was recalled to Washington in August 1997 after the car he was driving hit a pedestrian, sending her to the hospital with a serious head injury. From 1997-1998, Bryza was special advisor to Richard Morningstar, himself the Special Advisor to the President and Secretary of State on Assistance to the New Independent States of the Former Soviet Union, coordinating U.S. government assistance programs on economic reform in the Caucasus and Central Asia. Bryza served as the deputy to the Special Advisor to the President and Secretary of State on Caspian Basin Energy Diplomacy from July 1998 to March 2001. In this capacity, he coordinated the U.S. government’s inter-agency effort to develop a network of oil and gas pipelines in the Caspian region. In April 2001, Bryza joined the National Security Council as Director for Europe and Eurasia, with responsibility for coordinating U.S. policy on Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, the Caucasus, Central Asia and Caspian energy. He became Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs in June 2005, with responsibility for policy oversight and management of relations with countries in the Caucasus and Southern Europe. He also led U.S. efforts to advance peaceful settlements of the separatist conflicts of Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Bryza was the U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, which has the task of mediting a peace deal in the Nargorno-Karabakh conflict. Additionally, Bryza coordinated U.S. energy policy in the regions surrounding the Black and Caspian Seas, and worked with European countries on issues of tolerance, social integration and Islam. He married Zeyno Baran, a Turkish scholar, in Istanbul, Turkey, in August 2007. Bryza is fluent in Russian and Polish, and also speaks German and Spanish. -Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky Biography of Matthew J. Bryza (State Department) Bryza’s Responses to Questions by Senator Barbara Boxer (pdf) Bryza’s Responses to Questions by Senator Robert Menendez (pdf) Concerns Regarding President Obama’s Nomination of Matthew Bryza to Serve as U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan (Armenian National Committee of America) (pdf) ANCA Confronts Bryza Bias On Nagorno Karabagh (Armenian National Committee of America) Matthew Bryza: Azerbaijan Ambassadorship & a Tangled Web of Conflicts (by Sibel Edmunds, Boiling Frogs)

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