| Carey Cavanaugh | |
|---|---|
| United States Ambassador | |
| In office 1993–2001 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1955 Jacksonville, Florida |
| Spouse(s) | Laura Kokx |
| Alma mater | University of Florida |
| Profession | Diplomat and Professor |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Carey Cavanaugh (born 1955, Jacksonville, Florida) is a former U.S. Ambassador who now serves as Director of the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce at the University of Kentucky. For twenty-two years, he served as a Foreign Service officer with the U.S. Department of State. In addition to Washington assignments in the State Department, Pentagon and on Capitol Hill, Ambassador Cavanaugh served in Berlin, Moscow, Tbilisi, Rome, and Bern. He joined the Patterson School in 2006, where he is also professor of diplomacy and conflict resolution. He continues to work periodically on special assignments for the State Department's Inspector General.
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Cavanaugh grew up in the Jacksonville Beaches (primarily Atlantic Beach), but also lived for two years in Italy. He began studying Russian in ninth grade and, after briefly starting with nuclear engineering, majored in Russian at the University of Florida, where he was also a member of Delta Chi Fraternity. In 1975 he also studied briefly at Leningrad Polytechnical Institute. He went on to graduate study in government and international affairs at the University of Notre Dame and the U.S. Army Russian Institute in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. At the State Department's Foreign Service Institute, he studied German and Italian.
Cavanaugh taught international affairs and Soviet and East European studies at Youngstown State University[1] in Ohio and did research at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Munich.[2]
Entering the Foreign Service in 1984, Cavanaugh rose to the rank of Minister Counselor, with a career focused on conflict resolution, assistance, and humanitarian issues. His first tour of duty was at the U.S. Mission to Berlin (West) where he worked primarily on consular affairs and political reporting on Iran.[3] This was followed by assignment to the Office of Soviet Affairs in Washington to handle bilateral relations and some arms control issues, in particular implementation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Afterwards, as a political officer at the American Embassy in Moscow, he was responsible for Soviet relations towards Europe and arms control issues. In 1991-92, he was an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow, working with Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan).[4] When Eduard Shevardnadze became President of the Republic of Georgia in 1992, Cavanaugh was sent to Tbilisi as Chargé d'affaires, leading the team that established the U.S. embassy to that new state.[5] After Tbilisi, Cavanaugh was assigned to the US Embassy in Rome to cover the communist and socialist parties, as well as European policy issues. The State Department cut short this assignment to return him to Washington to help with the multi-billion dollar assistance program for the former Soviet Union and shortly after to support international and US efforts to advance peace in the Caucasus. He was a fellow in MIT’s Seminar XXI in 1994-95.[6]
Under the administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Cavanaugh spearheaded or helped advance peace efforts involving Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Tajikistan, and Turkey. During his service as Director of Southern European Affairs and Acting Special Cyprus Coordinator, he received the Clement Dunn Award for Excellence for defusing the crisis that arose when Cyprus purchased a Russian S-300 (missile) system capable of striking Turkey.[7] He later dealt with the issues of Nazi gold and Holocaust-era assets, while serving as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Switzerland. In 2000, he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Ambassador/Special Negotiator responsible for conflicts in Eurasia and to serve as Co-Chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group.[8] This assignment culminated in OSCE peace talks on Nagorno-Karabakh with the Presidents of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliev and Armenia Robert Kocharyan at Harry S Truman's Little White House in Key West, Florida.[9]
Cavanaugh was president of the Department of State’s Senior Seminar in 2001-2002. Afterwards, he worked for three years as a senior inspector/team leader in State's Office of the Inspector General. Cavanaugh’s final official assignment was foreign policy/political advisor to Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Mullen, the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Cavanaugh is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Institute for Strategic Studies (London). He is a founding board member of the Henry Clay Center for Statesmanship, responsible for developing the curriculum for its annual student congress.[10] He works frequently with the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, the London-based non-governmental organization Conciliation Resources, and the United States Army War College Center for Strategic Leadership. He has also served repeatedly as a senior scholar for IREX (International Research & Exchanges Board) and is a regular speaker for the American Committees on Foreign Relations.[11]
Cavanaugh married Laura Kokx of Hart, Michigan in 1981. They have two sons, Chase (who studied international affairs at Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris and the University of Notre Dame) and Keith, and reside in Lexington, Kentucky.
| Diplomatic posts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by None |
United States Chief of Mission to Georgia 1992 Charge d'affaires, a.i. |
Succeeded by Ambassador Kent N. Brown |
| Preceded by Ambassador James Williams |
United States Special Cyprus Coordinator 1995–1996 Acting |
Succeeded by Thomas J. Miller |
| Preceded by Donald Keyser |
U.S. Special Negotiator for Eurasian Conflicts U.S. Minsk Group Co-Chairman 1999–2001 |
Succeeded by Ambassador Rudolph Perina |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by Dr. Michael Desch |
Director, Patterson School of Diplomacy 2006–present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |