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Name: Namm, Adam
Current Position: Former Ambassador
President Barack Obama has turned to an experienced Latin America hand, Adam E. Namm, to serve as the new ambassador to Ecuador, replacing former ambassador Heather Hodges, who in April 2011 was expelled by the Ecuadorian government after the release by WikiLeaks of a diplomatic cable in which Hodges discussed allegedly corrupt police officials appointed to positions of high command by President Rafael Correa, and even speculated that Correa “must have known” about the corruption.
Born circa 1963, Namm is the son of Arnold Namm, the owner of GNP Specialties, and his wife Susan Hammel Namm. He graduated in 1981 from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. Namm earned an A.B. in International Relations from Brown University circa 1985, and an M.S. in National Security Strategy in 2004 from the National War College, where he wrote a paper analyzing the Spanish Civil War in light of the works of military theorists Carl von Clausewitz and Sun Tzu.
Namm began his career at the State Department in 1987. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Namm has served both overseas and stateside. His overseas postings include stints as Management Counselor in Islamabad, Pakistan; Human Resources Officer in Bogota, Colombia; General Services Officer in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; and Consular Officer in Bogota and Santo Domingo. His domestic assignments have included Executive Assistant in the Bureau of Administration, Director of the Office of Allowances, Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for Management, Desk Officer and Post Management Officer in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, and two consecutive assignments at the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO), including Director of OBO from April 2009 to September 2011.
Namm speaks Spanish and French.
A longtime resident of Arlington, Virginia, in 2006, Namm allowed his name to be used in a New York Times story on rodent extermination; the story detailed Namm’s run-ins with rats, which had pushed up a floorboard in his home and thoroughly frightened a pet hamster.
Namm and his wife, Mei Huang, have one daughter.
Squeamishly Waging the Rodent War (by Alina Tugend, New York Times)
Diplomatic Cable from Ambassador Hodges (July 10, 2009)
Ecuador Expels U.S. Ambassador Over WikiLeaks Cable (by Simon Romero, New York Times)
