President Biden Appoints Michael Gonzales As Ambassador To Zambia

The President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, has appointed Michael Gonzales as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Zambia.

Prior to this Mr Gonzales served an illustrious career focused in diplomacy.

He earned a BA degree in Diplomacy and World Affairs from Occidental College in Los Angeles and then continued his studies by gaining an MA in International Development from the American University’s School of International Service.

Following this, he has worked as the Consular and Economic Officer in Dhaka Bangladesh and then worked as the Deputy Public Affairs Officer of the U.S Embassy in Kampala, Uganda.

Additionally, Mr Gonzales served as spokesperson and Information officer at the U.S Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and as Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’Affaires at the US embassies in Kathmandu, Nepal and Lilongwe, Malawi.

Before his appointment, he operated as the Office Director and the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Analysis for Africa in the States Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research. He also worked as a member of the Senior Foreign Service working under the rank of Minister-Counsellor. In this role, he specialised his work to West Africa and the Sahel Region.

Throughout his career, Mr Gonzales has prioritised the building of partnerships with host governments, international partners and civil society organisations. Through this, he was able to promote good governance, open political space, improvements in business environments, protection of human rights and the expansion of economic opportunity.

His priorities perfectly align with the New Dawn government’s manifesto and will enable the government and the Ambassador to work in tangent to achieve their combined goals of economic transformation within the country.

Photo: US State Department