Former Ambassador

Biography of James. B. Foley

Ambassador James B. Foley

James B. Foley was nominated by President George W. Bush as the Ambassador to Haiti on February 25, 2003 and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 22, 2003. From July 7, 2002 to June 30, 2003, Mr. Foley was the Deputy Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva and as DCM helped to manage the mission's 240 employees. He served as Chargé d'Affaires a.i from May to October 2001.

Before his current assignment in Geneva, Mr. Foley served as Deputy Spokesman of the Department of State and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs from 1997 to 2000. He conducted the Department's daily press briefings on a regular basis, and often accompanied the Secretary on overseas travel as Acting Spokesman.

Mr. Foley joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1983 and served in Manila from 1984-1986, first as Consular Officer and then as Political Officer and Staff Assistant to Ambassador Stephen Bosworth. He next served in Algiers as Political Officer from 1986-1988. From 1988 until 1989, he was an International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. From 1989-1993 Mr. Foley served first as Special Assistant to Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger and then as his political advisor and speechwriter.

From 1993 to 1996, Mr. Foley was in Brussels, Belgium, as Deputy Director of the Private Office of the NATO Secretary General. He served as liaison between the Secretary General and the NATO military authorities and was responsible for peacekeeping and Balkans issues. Following this he was a Special Assistant for one year to U.S. Senator Paul D. Coverdell of Georgia, under a Pearson Fellowship.

Mr. Foley was born in Buffalo, New York, on April 4, 1957. He earned a B.A. in 1979 in English from the State University College of New York at Fredonia, where he also studied French and Political Science. He studied international relations at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris, France from 1979-1980. He was awarded an M.A.L.D. degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1984. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Mr. Foley worked as a research assistant at the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Mr. Foley is married to Ms. Kate Suryan. He is fluent in French.