Yael Lempert

Last updated

Andrea Catalano di Melilli
​
​
(m. 2008)​
Yael Lempert
Yael Lempert, U.S. Ambassador.jpg
United States Ambassador to Jordan
In office
September 3, 2023 –January 20, 2025 [1]
Alma mater Georgetown University (BS)
Awards National Security Council Outstanding Service Award (2017)
Presidential Rank Award (2019) [2]

Yael Lempert [3] (born January 16, 1974) is an American diplomat served as the United States ambassador to Jordan from September 2023 to January 2025. Lempert is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, having served in various roles including Senior Director for the Levant, Israel, and Egypt at the National Security Council, and Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in London. In 2023, she was nominated by President Biden and confirmed by the Senate to be the ambassador to Jordan.

Contents

Early life and education

Lempert grew up in Ithaca, New York. [4] She graduated from the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. [5] She is the daughter of ophthalmologist Philip Lempert and Lesley Lempert who serves on the board of the New York Civil Liberties Union. [3]

Career

Lempert is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor. She is fluent in Arabic. [4] She was Senior Director for the Levant, Israel, and Egypt at the National Security Council (NSC) from 2014 to 2017. She served as Special Assistant to the President from 2015 to 2017.

She was charged with "(heading) negotiations between the Netanyahu government and Obama administration over the military aid package, in addition to her work on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. The $38-billion deal, over 10 years, was the biggest the United States ever signed with any country." [6]

Initially planning to return to the State Department after 20 years as a career diplomat, Lempert was asked to stay on for the transition and assembling of a new team in 2017 under Donald Trump. Trump officials thought that Lempert, with her "knowledge and experience", could help facilitate a deal between Israel and the Palestinians. [7]

From June 1, 2017, until December 2018, Lempert served as acting deputy assistant secretary for Egypt and North Africa. [5] [8]

Lempert served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in London from January 2019 to 2021, and as Chargé d'Affaires, a.i. from January 2021 through July 2021. [2]

Lempert became the acting assistant secretary of the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs on August 31, 2021. [9]

U.S. ambassador to Jordan

On January 3, 2023, President Joe Biden nominated Lempert to be the ambassador to Jordan. [10] After hearings and a favorable report from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, her nomination was confirmed by the Senate on July 27, 2023. [11] She was sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris on August 9, 2023, [4] and presented her credentials to King Abdullah II on September 3, 2023. [12]

Personal life

Lempert married Italian diplomat Andrea Catalano di Melilli in 2008 at the Italian Embassy in Cairo. [3] She speaks Arabic. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David M. Satterfield</span> American diplomat (born 1954)

David Michael Satterfield is an American diplomat and ambassador, who has served extensively in the Middle East, including the Persian Gulf area, Lebanon, and Iraq. He later served as a senior advisor on Iraq for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and was director general of the Multinational Force and Observers, the peacekeeping force for the Sinai Peninsula from June 2009 until August 2017. He was chargé d'affaires to Egypt from August 2013 to January 2014 and was subsequently Special Advisor to the Secretary of State for Libya. From September 2017 to June 2019 he served as the acting assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, and was confirmed as U.S. ambassador to Turkey on June 27, 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas A. Shannon Jr.</span> American diplomat (born 1958)

Thomas Alfred Shannon Jr. is an American diplomat who served as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 2016 to 2018. In early 2017, Shannon served as acting United States Secretary of State until President Donald Trump's nominee, Rex Tillerson, was confirmed. He was also acting Deputy Secretary of State of the United States until the Senate confirmed President Trump's nominee, John J. Sullivan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Hale (diplomat)</span> American diplomat (born 1961)

David Maclain Hale is an American diplomat and career ambassador, who previously served as the United States Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. He is currently a Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow at the Wilson Center, on detail from the Department of State.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jordan–United States relations</span> Bilateral relations

Jordan has been a very close ally of the United States for decades, dating back to the establishment of bilateral relations between the two countries in 1949. The country was named a major non-NATO ally of the U.S. in 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R. Stephen Beecroft</span> American diplomat

Robert Stephen "Steve" Beecroft is an American diplomat and attorney. He served as United States Ambassador to Egypt from December 2014 to June 2017. He previously served as United States Ambassador to Iraq and United States Ambassador to Jordan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel B. Shapiro</span> American diplomat

Daniel Benjamin "Dan" Shapiro is an American diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to Israel from 2011 to 2017. He was nominated by President Barack Obama on March 29, 2011, and confirmed by the Senate on May 29. He was sworn in as ambassador by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on July 8, 2011. Previously, he was the senior director for the Middle East and North Africa on the United States National Security Council. As an Obama administration political appointee, Shapiro was ordered on January 5, 2017, to resign upon the inauguration of President Donald Trump. On August 30, 2021, President Joe Biden appointed Shapiro as a special liaison to Israel on Iran.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herro Mustafa</span> Kurdish-American diplomat (born 1973)

Herro Kader Mustafa Garg is a Kurdish-American diplomat who has served as the United States ambassador to Egypt since November 2023. She served as the United States ambassador to Bulgaria from October 2019 to March 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roberta S. Jacobson</span> American diplomat (born 1960)

Roberta S. Jacobson is an American diplomat who was the United States Ambassador to Mexico from June 2016 to May 2018. She previously served as the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs from March 30, 2012, to May 5, 2016. The United States Senate approved her nomination as U.S. Ambassador to Mexico on April 28, 2016. In March 2018, Jacobson announced her resignation effective May 5. Foreign Policy reported on January 18, 2021, that Jacobson would be in charge of Mexico–United States border affairs at the National Security Council under President Joe Biden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Hammer (diplomat)</span> American diplomat (born 1963)

Michael A. Hammer is an American diplomat who is serving as the United States Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa as of 2022. A career member of the United States Foreign Service, Hammer previously served as the United States ambassador to Chile from 2014 to 2016 and the United States ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2018 to 2022. Hammer appointed Chargé d'affaires ad interim to Cuba on November 14, 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brett McGurk</span> American diplomat (born 1973)

Brett H. McGurk is an American diplomat, attorney, and academic who served in senior national security positions under presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden. He served as deputy assistant to President Joe Biden and National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley</span> American diplomat (born 1957)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard M. Mills Jr.</span> American diplomat (born 1959)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Ratney</span> American diplomat (born 1961)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Todd C. Chapman</span> American diplomat (born 1962)

Todd Crawford Chapman is an American career diplomat who has served as the United States ambassador to Brazil from 2020 to 2021 and as the United States ambassador to Ecuador from 2016 to 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephanie S. Sullivan</span> American diplomat (born 1958)

Stephanie Sanders Sullivan is an American diplomat and the previous ambassador to Ghana. She served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Central African Affairs and Security Affairs for the Bureau of African Affairs from January 2017 to November 2018. She previously served as United States Ambassador to the Republic of the Congo, having been nominated by President Obama on June 13, 2013, confirmed by the Senate on August 1, 2013, and served through January 20, 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alaina B. Teplitz</span> American diplomat (born 1969)

Alaina B. Teplitz is an American diplomat who had served as the Assistant Secretary of State for Administration. She served as U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives from 2018 to 2021 and U.S. Ambassador to Nepal from 2015 to 2018. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Career Minister, she joined the State Department in 1991 and is the recipient of numerous Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa A. Johnson</span> American diplomat (born 1967)

Lisa Anne Johnson is an American diplomat who is serving as the United States ambassador to Lebanon. She previously served as the United States ambassador to Namibia from 2018 to 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorothy Shea</span> American diplomat

Dorothy Camille Shea is an American career diplomat who serves as the United States Deputy Representative to the United Nations since 2024. She previously had served as the United States Ambassador to Lebanon from 2020 to 2023. On December 7, 2022, she received the Distinguished Presidential Rank Award for sustained extraordinary accomplishment. On January 3, 2023, President Biden announced his intention to nominate her as Deputy Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations, with the rank and status of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, and Deputy Representative of the United States of America in the Security Council of the United Nations as well as Representative of the United States of America to the Sessions of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathleen A. Kavalec</span> American diplomat

Kathleen Ann Kavalec is an American diplomat who has served as the United States ambassador to Romania since February 2023. She is a former nominee to be the United States ambassador to Albania under President Donald Trump.

References

  1. ↑ "US ambassadors to Jordan and Saudi Arabia end postings with Trump's return". The Times of Israel. January 22, 2025.
  2. 1 2 "Yael Lempert". U.S. Embassy & Consulates in the United Kingdom. Archived from the original on March 18, 2021. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 "Yael Lempert, Andrea Catalano". The New York Times. November 7, 2008. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 National, The (August 10, 2023). "New US ambassador to Jordan Yael Lempert sworn in". The National. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
  5. 1 2 "Yael Lempert Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Egypt and the Maghreb Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs". US Department of State. Archived from the original on January 31, 2021. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  6. ↑ Ravid, Barak; Tibon, Amir (March 24, 2017). "Why did Trump keep Obama's senior Israel adviser? Depends who you're asking". Haaretz. Retrieved May 13, 2024.
  7. ↑ Ravid, Barak; Tibon, Amir (March 24, 2017). "Why did Trump keep Obama's senior Israel adviser? Depends who you're asking". Haaretz. Retrieved April 21, 2021. Lempert, 43, held the Israel portfolio on the National Security Council during Barack Obama's last two years as president.
  8. ↑ "Yael Lempert Archives". U.S. Embassy & Consulates in the United Kingdom. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Yael Lempert". United States Department of State. Archived from the original on September 28, 2021. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
  10. 1 2 "President Biden Announces Key Nominees". The White House. January 3, 2023. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
  11. ↑ "PN51 — Yael Lempert — Department of State 118th Congress (2023-2024)". US Congress. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
  12. ↑ "Ambassador Yael Lempert Presents Her Credentials to His Majesty King Abdullah II" (Press release). U.S. Embassy in Jordan. September 24, 2023. Retrieved October 23, 2023.
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by United States Ambassador to Jordan
2023–2025		Vacant
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.