Mark Green | |
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President of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars | |
Assumed office March 15, 2021 | |
President | Joe Biden |
Preceded by | Jane Harman |
Executive Director of the McCain Institute for International Leadership | |
In office April 11,2020 –March 14,2021 | |
Preceded by | Kurt Volker |
Succeeded by | Josette Sheeran |
18th Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development | |
In office August 7,2017 –April 10,2020 | |
President | Donald Trump |
Preceded by | Gayle Smith |
Succeeded by | Samantha Power |
United States Ambassador to Tanzania | |
In office September 12,2007 –January 20,2009 | |
President | George W. Bush |
Preceded by | Michael Retzer |
Succeeded by | Alfonso E. Lenhardt |
Member of the U.S.HouseofRepresentatives from Wisconsin's 8th district | |
In office January 3,1999 –January 3,2007 | |
Preceded by | Jay W. Johnson |
Succeeded by | Steve Kagen |
Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from the 4th district | |
In office January 4,1993 –January 3,1999 | |
Preceded by | John Ainsworth |
Succeeded by | Phil Montgomery |
Personal details | |
Born | Mark Andrew Green June 1,1960 Boston,Massachusetts,U.S. |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse(s) | Sue Green (m. 1985) |
Children | 3 |
Education | University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire (BA) University of Wisconsin–Madison (JD) |
Mark Andrew Green (born June 1,1960) is an American politician and diplomat who is the president,director and CEO of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Before joining the Wilson Center on March 15,2021,he served as the executive director of the McCain Institute for International Leadership,and prior to that,as the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development. He served in the Wisconsin State Assembly from 1993 to 1999,was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to 2007,representing Wisconsin's 8th congressional district ,ran unsuccessfully for governor of Wisconsin in 2006,and held the post of United States Ambassador to Tanzania from August 2007 until January 2009. Green served as president of the International Republican Institute [1] from 2014 to 2017 and sits on the board of directors of the Millennium Challenge Corporation.
The United States Senate confirmed Green as administrator of the USAID on August 3,2017. He was sworn in the following August 7. [2] On March 16,2020,Green submitted a resignation letter to President Trump. [3] He left the office on April 10,2020.
Green was born in Boston,Massachusetts,to Jeremy and Elizabeth Green. His father is from South Africa,and Green spent time there as a child. [4] His family moved often,and as a child he lived in Jersey City,New Jersey;Cincinnati,Ohio;England;South Africa;and Australia. [5] He attended Abbot Pennings High School in De Pere,Wisconsin. [6]
Green received a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire in 1983 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1987. [6] In law school,he served as a managing editor of the Wisconsin Law Review and won the Justice Robert Jackson Award from the Washington,D.C.,Foreign Law Society for "Best Published Student Writing on a Foreign Law Subject".
After graduating from law school,he joined the law firm Godfrey &Kahn S.C. at their Green Bay,Wisconsin office.
In 1992,Green was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly,where he served District 4 for six years and rose to the position of chairman of the Republican Caucus. [7] [8] He chaired the Judiciary Committee,served on the Board of the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA),and helped reform state housing policy. Green's legislative work won him awards from the Wisconsin and American Farm Bureau Federations,the United States Chamber of Commerce,the National Federation of Independent Business,the National Rifle Association,the Wisconsin Builders Association,the Wisconsin Medical Society,Citizens Against Government Waste,Watchdogs of the Treasury,and the Seniors Coalition. [9]
Green first ran for Congress in 1998,defeating first-term Representative Jay W. Johnson,with 54% of the vote. Green won each of his next three elections with 70% or more of the vote. [6] He represented Wisconsin's 8th congressional district from the 106th Congress until the 109th Congress.
Green was a member of the House International Relations Committee in the 107th to 109th sessions of Congress. He helped draft the Millennium Challenge Act,the Global Access to HIV/AIDS Prevention,Awareness and Treatment Act of 2001,and the U.S. Leadership Against HIV/AIDS,Tuberculosis and Malaria Act. He co-founded the Victory in Iraq Caucus. [10]
Green worked to raise awareness about human rights violations by the communist Pathet Lao government in Laos against the ethnic minority Hmong people and others suffering under authoritarian governments,and about religious freedom issues in Laos and Southeast Asia. [11] [12] [13] [14] Many Hmong Americans had resettled in Wisconsin as political refugees following the Vietnam War.
In January 1999,Green was appointed an Assistant Majority Whip by then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay,and then re-appointed by House Majority Whip Roy Blunt. [15]
While a U.S. Representative,Green was a member of the House Judiciary Committee,vice chair of the Crime,Terrorism and Homeland Security Subcommittee,and co-founded the bipartisan Faith-Based Caucus. He co-led the floor debate on the "Faith-Based Initiative",a plan to reenlist faith-based communities in the national fight against poverty and social crises. As part of that effort,he co-founded the bipartisan Faith-Based Caucus. Green helped expand the Violence Against Women Act,and wrote the "Two Strikes and You're Out Child Protection Act",which would have established a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment for twice-convicted child sex offenders. [16] He also cosponsored the Debbie Smith Act,which was meant to assist law enforcement in modernizing DNA databases,and the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. [17] He supported the death penalty [18] and the No Child Left Behind Act. [19]
Green unsuccessfully ran for Governor of Wisconsin against incumbent Governor Jim Doyle,a Democrat. Green had no opponent in the Republican Party primary. Then-Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker dropped out of the GOP primary on March 24,2006,citing a lack of campaign funds (he would later win the governorship in 2010). [20] After the primary,Green was joined on the ticket by State Rep. Jean Hundertmark of Clintonville,who had defeated Nick Voegeli in the primary for lieutenant governor. [21] Green received 979,427 votes to Doyle's 1,139,115 votes.
On June 8,2007,President George W. Bush announced Green's nomination as United States Ambassador to Tanzania. Senator Russ Feingold,chairman of the African Affairs Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,held hearings on Green's nomination as ambassador on June 19.
Senator Chris Dodd,a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,put a hold on Green's nomination to replace Michael Retzer as ambassador,citing Retzer's action of revoking the country clearance of Peace Corps Country Director Christine Djondo as interference in the independence of the Peace Corps. [22] On June 28,when the State Department provided a letter of apology to Djondo,Dodd released his hold. On August 3,2007,the Senate confirmed Green by unanimous consent. [23] He resigned as ambassador to Tanzania upon Barack Obama's inauguration as president.
During Green's tenure,President George W. Bush visited Tanzania in February 2008,the first official visit by a sitting U.S. president; [24] Tanzania hosted Sullivan Summit VIII,the first Sullivan Summit in East Africa;President Kikwete visited the White House in August 2008;and the largest Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact in history was signed.
During his tenure,Green helped craft the Millennium Challenge Act,which expanded America's commitment to invest in developing nations that are pursuing political and economic reforms. [25] He worked to enact the Global Access to HIV/AIDS Prevention,Awareness and Treatment Act of 2001 and the U.S. Leadership Against HIV/AIDS,Tuberculosis and Malaria Act. [26] He worked on legislation covering policy areas like international terrorism and human trafficking. In 2005,Green worked with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs,the International Republican Institute and the State Department as an election observer in Kenya. He also traveled to West Africa with the Academy for Educational Development,Oxfam and Save the Children to work on programs related to women's health and education.
Green was a director of the policy center of Malaria No More,a global effort to eliminate malaria. [24]
He served as a senior director of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC) from 2011 until his appointment in 2017. USGLC is a foreign policy foundation that describes itself as "a broad-based influential network of over 500 businesses and NGOs;national security and foreign policy experts;and business,faith-based,academic,military,and community leaders in all 50 states who support strategic investments to elevate development and diplomacy alongside defense in order to build a better,safer world". [27]
He served as president and CEO of Initiative for Global Development,a nonprofit organization aimed at reducing world poverty,from 2013 to 2014. [28]
From 2014-2017, [29] Green served as president of the International Republican Institute (IRI),an NGO chaired by the late Arizona Sen. John McCain. [30]
In May 2017,Green was nominated by President Donald Trump to lead the United States Agency for International Development. His nomination was backed by aid organizations and politicians,with The Guardian writing that Green "is well regarded and known for his bipartisan approach to foreign assistance". [4]
Mark and Susan (née Keske) Green wed on August 5,1985,and have three children. Green and his wife served as volunteer teachers in Kenya with WorldTeach in 1987 and 1988,and while in Kenya,visited rural areas of neighboring countries. [24]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Jim Doyle (Incumbent) | 1,139,115 | 52.8 | +7.7 | |
Republican | Mark Green | 979,427 | 45.3 |
Laos (,),officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic,is a socialist state and the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. At the heart of the Indochinese Peninsula,Laos is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest,Vietnam to the east,Cambodia to the southeast,and Thailand to the west and southwest. Its capital and largest city is Vientiane.
The Hmong people are indigenous people that mainly live in Southwest China,Vietnam,Laos,Thailand,and Myanmar. They have been members of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) since 2007. In China they are classified as a subgroup of the Miao people.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 billion,USAID is one of the largest official aid agencies in the world and accounts for more than half of all U.S. foreign assistance—the highest in the world in absolute dollar terms.
Thomas Stewart Udall is an American diplomat,lawyer and politician serving as the United States Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party,he served as a United States senator from New Mexico from 2009 to 2021. Udall also served as the U.S. representative for New Mexico's 3rd congressional district from 1999 to 2009 and New Mexico Attorney General from 1991 to 1999. Born in Tucson,Arizona,he is the son of former U.S. Representative Stewart Udall and the nephew of former U.S. Representative Mo Udall. A member of the Udall family,a western American political family,his relatives include Colorado's Mark Udall and Utah's Mike Lee. He was the dean of New Mexico's congressional delegation. Udall was first elected in the 2008 Senate race. He did not seek a third term in 2020,making him the only Democratic senator to retire that cycle. On July 16,2021,President Joe Biden nominated Udall to serve as United States Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa.
Andrew S. Natsios is an American public servant and Republican politician from Massachusetts,who served in a number of positions in the administrations of Governor Paul Cellucci and President of the United States George W. Bush.
James Manuel Costa is the U.S. representative for California's 16th congressional district. Serving as a Democrat in Congress since 2013,he represented California's 20th congressional district from 2005 to 2013. The district includes most of Fresno. Costa served in the California State Assembly from 1978 to 1994 and in the State Senate from 1994 to 2002. At the time of his election to the California State Legislature,he was the youngest member of the legislature at the age of 26. During his time in the California State Assembly,he served as the Majority Caucus Chair. Costa chaired the Blue Dog Coalition and was ranking member of the United States House Agriculture Subcommittee on Rural Development,Research,Biotechnology,and Foreign Agriculture.
Hmong Americans are Americans of Hmong ancestry. Most Hmong Americans consist of those that fled to the United States as refugees in the late 1970s due to their cooperation with the United States' Central Intelligence Agency operatives in northern Laos during the Vietnam War,and their descendants. Over half of the Hmong population from Laos left the country,or attempted to leave,in 1975,at the culmination of the war. At the time,the Pathet Lao launched an aggressive campaign to capture or kill Hmong soldiers and families who aided the CIA. Thousands of Hmong were evacuated or escaped on their own to Hmong refugee camps in Thailand. About 90% of those who made it to refugee camps in Thailand were ultimately resettled in the United States. The rest,about 8 to 10%,resettled in countries including Canada,France,the Netherlands,and Australia. According to the 2019 American Community Survey by the US Census Bureau,the population count for Hmong Americans was 327,000.
Christopher Andrew Coons is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Delaware since 2010. A member of the Democratic Party,Coons served as the county executive of New Castle County from 2005 to 2010.
Steven Craig Gunderson is an American former politician who was a Republican U.S. Representative for representing Wisconsin's 3rd congressional district from 1981 to 1997,when was succeeded by Democrat Ron Kind. After leaving office,he was president and CEO of the Council on Foundations,and then of Career Education Colleges and Universities.
The alleged 2007 Laotian coup d'état plan was a conspiracy allegation by the United States Department of Justice that Lt. Col. Harrison Jack (Ret.) and former Royal Lao Army Major General Vang Pao,among others conspired in June 2007 to obtain large amounts of heavy weapons and ammunition to overthrow the Communist government of Laos in violation of the Neutrality Act. The charges were ultimately dropped and the case helped serve to further highlight,instead,major human rights violations by the Lao government against the Hmong ethnic minority,Laotian refugees,and political dissidents.
William Raymond Steiger is a Public Policy Fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington,D.C.. He served as Chief of Staff at the United States Agency for international Development from 2017 to 2021. Previously,Steiger was the chief program officer at Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon,an organization affiliated with the George W. Bush Institute,which works to reduce deaths from cervical cancer and breast cancer in low- and middle-income countries. He was the Special Assistant to the Secretary for International Affairs and the Director of the Office of Global Health Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) during the George W. Bush Administration,with a portfolio that included HIV/AIDS,malaria,avian flu and pandemic-influenza preparedness.
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African-Americans in foreign policy in the United States catalogs distinguished African Americans who have and continue to contribute to international development,diplomacy,and defense through their work with the U.S. Department of State,the U.S. Agency for International Development,the U.S. Information Agency,and the U.S. Congress,and other notable agencies and non-governmental organizations. The creators acknowledge the presence of the interagency contributions to the foreign affairs realm,and welcome additional content to showcase the achievements of African-Americans in other relevant USG agencies.
The Lao Veterans of America,Inc.,describes itself as a non-profit,non-partisan,non-governmental,veterans organization that represents Lao- and Hmong-American veterans who served in the U.S. clandestine war in the Kingdom of Laos during the Vietnam War as well as their refugee families in the United States.
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