Dean R. Thompson

For persons of a similar name, see Dean Thompson (disambiguation).
Dean Thompson
United States Ambassador to Nepal
Incumbent
Assumed office
October 21, 2022
PresidentJoe Biden
Preceded byRandy W. Berry
Personal details
Born1967 (age 56–57)
Education

Dean Richard Thompson (born 1967)[1] is an American diplomat who has served as the United States ambassador to Nepal since October 21, 2022.

Early life and education

Thompson earned a Bachelor of Arts from Wittenberg University, a Master of Arts from the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, and a Master of Science in national security strategy from the National War College of the National Defense University.[2]

Career

Thompson is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of minister-counselor. Since 2021, he has served as the principal deputy assistant secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs within the United States Department of State,[3] and was the acting assistant secretary from 2020 to 2021. Throughout his career, Thompson has served as consul general of the U.S. Consulate in Kolkata, India. He was the deputy chief of mission of the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and the deputy chief of mission and chargé d'affaires, a.i. of the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest, Romania.

Among other assignments, he served as director of the State Department's Executive Secretariat staff, deputy director of the State Department Operations Center, director of the Operations Center crisis management staff, and deputy director for information resources management for the executive secretariat. Thompson speaks Romanian and Bengali.[2] Prior to joining the Foreign Service, he worked in the Office of the Secretary of Defense on counterproliferation issues and U.S. security assistance to South Korea.[3]

United States ambassador to Nepal

On March 29, 2022, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Thompson to be the next United States ambassador to Nepal.[2] On April 4, 2022, his nomination was sent to the Senate.[4] Hearings on his nomination were held before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on July 13, 2022. The committee favorably reported his nomination to the Senate floor on July 19, 2022. His nomination was confirmed by the full Senate on August 5, 2022.[5]

Thompson presented his credentials to President Bidya Devi Bhandari on October 21, 2022.[6]

Personal life

Thompson speaks Romanian and Bengali.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Dean Richard Thompson - People - Department History - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d "President Biden Announces Key Nominees" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: The White House. March 29, 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. ^ a b "Dean Thompson". United States Department of State. Archived from the original on March 5, 2022. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
  4. ^ "Nominations Sent to the Senate" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: The White House. April 4, 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  5. ^ "PN1899 - Nomination of Dean R. Thompson for Department of State, 117th Congress (2021-2022)". www.congress.gov. 19 July 2022. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
  6. ^ Kathmandu, U. S. Embassy (2022-10-21). "Ambassador Thompson". U.S. Embassy in Nepal. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by United States Ambassador to Nepal
2022 – present 		Incumbent