Tatiana C. Gfoeller (born 1960) is a veteran American diplomat. Since joining the Department of State in 1984, her foreign postings have included Poland, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the Soviet Union, Belgium, Russia, and Turkmenistan. Gfoeller has served as a Deputy Chief of Mission in Turkmenistan, Deputy Principal Officer in Russia, and Consul General in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. She was awarded the Rusk Fellowship in 2000. Additionally, Gfoeller authored a book on U.S. foreign policy interests in the Caspian Basin and has taught master's degree classes in political science at Georgetown University. [1] She is a member of numerous foreign affairs organizations, including the Council on Foreign Relations and speaks Russian, French, Polish, Italian, Spanish, and Arabic. [2] From 2011 to 2017, Gfoeller was a political adviser to the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Pentagon. From 2008 to 2011, she served as Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic. [3] [2] Her father was the French writer of Russian extraction Vladimir Volkoff. Gfoeller served as President of American Women for International Understanding , an international women's rights NGO, from 2020 to 2022 and is now on its Board of Directors. Since 2022, Ambassador Gfoeller has been serving as the Global Ambassador-at-Large of the ACE Health Foundation. [4]
Ambassador Gfoeller published her first novel, “A Simple Love,” in 2021. She is presently at work on a second novel. [5] [6]
Her husband is Ambassador Michael Gfoeller. They have one son, Major Emmanuel Gfoeller, an Army Ranger. [7]
Margot Elisabeth Wallström is a Swedish politician of the Swedish Social Democratic Party who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden and Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2014 to 2019 and Minister for Nordic Cooperation from 2016 to 2019.
Paula Jon Dobriansky is an American diplomat, public official, and foreign policy expert who served as Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs (2001–2009) and the President's Envoy to Northern Ireland (2007–2009). A specialist in Central/East European affairs and the former Soviet Union, trans-Atlantic relations, and political-military affairs, Dobriansky held key senior roles in the administrations of five U.S. presidents.
Adel al-Jubeir is a Saudi diplomat serving as the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs since 2018. He also serves as a Member of the Council of Ministers of Saudi Arabia and has been the Climate Affairs Envoy since 2022. Notably, he is the second non-royal to hold the office of the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, succeeding Ibrahim bin Abdullah Al Suwaiyel. Previously, al-Jubeir was the Saudi Ambassador to the United States from 2007 to 2015 and a foreign policy advisor to King Abdullah.
Vladimir Volkoff was a Russian writer who lived in France and whose books were written in French. He produced both literary works for adults and spy novels for young readers under the pseudonym Lieutenant X. His works are characterised by themes of the Cold War, intelligence and manipulation, but also by metaphysical and spiritual elements.
Tracey Ann Jacobson is an American diplomat and a former United States ambassador to Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kosovo and Ethiopia. She served as the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs from January 2017 through October 2017. She retired then returned to active duty in 2021 as the State Department's Director of the Afghanistan Task Force, and then as Chargé d’Affaires, ad interim, at the Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In January 2024, she was nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as the United States ambassador to Iraq.
Harriet Lee Elam-Thomas is a United States diplomat and university professor who directs the Diplomacy Program under International and Global Studies at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando, Florida. From 2000 to 2002, Thomas served as the United States Ambassador to Senegal.
Joseph Adam Ereli is an American lobbyist, who formerly served as a diplomat and ambassador.
Ruth A. Davis is an American diplomat. Davis served as the 24th director general of the United States Foreign Service. She is the first woman of color to be appointed as Director General of the Foreign Service and the first African-American Director of the Foreign Service Institute. In 2002, she became a career member of the Senior Foreign Service and a Career Ambassador. She was the Chief of Staff of the Africa Bureau of the U.S. Department of State.
Gina Kay Abercrombie-Winstanley (born 1957) is an American diplomat who served as U.S. ambassador to Malta from 2012 to 2016. She was nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed on March 29, 2012. She was sworn in on April 18, 2012, and presented her credentials to George Abela, President of Malta, on May 2, 2012. On April 12, 2021, she was sworn in to serve as chief diversity and inclusion officer for the United States Department of State.
Richard Merrill Mills Jr. is an American diplomat serving as the United States ambassador to Nigeria since July 2024. He served as the United States deputy ambassador to the United Nations from 2020 to 2024 and, in that capacity, served as the U.S. Chargé d'Affaires and Acting Permanent Representative to the United Nations between January 20, 2021, and February 25, 2021, when Linda Thomas-Greenfield became ambassador. He previously served as the U.S. Chargé d'Affaires for Canada.
Michael Alan Ratney is an American diplomat who was the United States ambassador to Saudi Arabia from April 2023 to January 2025. He previously served as the chargé d'affaires of the United States embassy in Israel.
Mary Catherine "Molly" Phee is an American diplomat who had served as assistant secretary of state for African affairs. She previously served as the U.S. ambassador to South Sudan from 2015 to 2017. She is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of minister counselor.
Anne S. Casper is an American diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to Burundi from 2016 to 2019.
Laura Elizabeth Kennedy is a retired United States career diplomat, who has served as U.S. Ambassador to Turkmenistan, U.S. Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State.
Allan Phillip Mustard is a retired American agricultural economist and career diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Turkmenistan from 2015 to 2019. He was the chair of the OpenStreetMap Foundation from 2019 to 2021, and advises the Caspian Policy Center.
Lisa A. Carty is an American diplomat who served as United States ambassador to the United Nations Economic and Social Council in the Biden administration.
Caryn R. McClelland is an American diplomat who is serving as the United States ambassador to Brunei. She assumed office in 2022.
The Taliban has ruled Afghanistan as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan since taking control by force in 2021, overthrowing the internationally recognized Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The takeover was widely criticized by the international community, and no countries have extended de jure diplomatic recognition to the new regime, despite nominally maintaining relations with Afghanistan. The Taliban has campaigned for international recognition since the takeover. Several countries have vowed never to recognize the Islamic Emirate, and others have said they will do so only if human rights in the country are respected. Some countries have accredited Taliban diplomats at the chargé d'affaires level despite not recognizing the Islamic Emirate. In September 2023, the People's Republic of China became the first country to formally name a new ambassador to the country since the takeover, and in January 2024 recognized the Taliban's envoy to China; however, the PRC still does not formally recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. The United Arab Emirates also accepted a Taliban appointed diplomat as Afghanistan's new ambassador in August 2024.
Elizabeth Rood is an American diplomat who serves as United States ambassador to Turkmenistan. She had served the chargé d'affaires of the U.S. mission to Russia from 2022 to 2023.
Martina Anna Tkadlec Strong is an American diplomat who has served as the United States ambassador to the United Arab Emirates since October 4, 2023. She previously served as the de facto United States ambassador to Saudi Arabia from January 20, 2021 until April 16, 2023.