Francis J. Ricciardone Jr.

Francis Joseph Ricciardone Jr.
President of the American University in Cairo
Incumbent
Assumed office July 1, 2016
Preceded by	Lisa Anderson
United States Ambassador to Turkey
In office January 1, 2011 – July 7, 2014[1]
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	James Franklin Jeffrey
Succeeded by	John R. Bass
United States Deputy Ambassador to Afghanistan
In office 2009–2010
United States Ambassador to Egypt
In office August 2, 2005 – 2008
Preceded by	C. David Welch
Succeeded by	Margaret Scobey
United States Ambassador to the Philippines
In office February 21, 2002 – April 3, 2005
Preceded by	Michael Malinowski
Succeeded by	Kristie Kenney
United States Ambassador to Palau
In office February 21, 2002 – October 10, 2004
Preceded by	Thomas C. Hubbard
Succeeded by	Helen Reed-Rowe
Personal details
Born	1951 (age 65–66) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Spouse(s)	Marie Ricciardone
Alma mater	Dartmouth College
Profession	Diplomat
Website	francisricciardone.com

Francis Joseph Ricciardone Jr. (born 1952) is the current President of the American University in Cairo. Ambassador Ricciardone was the United States ambassador to Turkey^[2] between 2011 and 2014.^[3] Previously he was Deputy Ambassador at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. He was also on leave from the U.S. Department of State as a guest scholar at the U.S. Institute of Peace. He has served as U.S. Ambassador to the Arab Republic of Egypt (2005–2008),^[4] the Republic of the Philippines and the Republic of Palau (2002–2005). As a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, he received U.S. government and other organization awards for his work in foreign policy and program management, political reporting and analysis, and peacekeeping.

Ricciardone has extensive diplomatic experience with Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Jordan. He speaks fluent Arabic, Turkish, and Italian. He has served in two multinational military deployments: as chief of the Civilian Observer Unit of the Multinational Force and Observers in Egypt's Sinai Desert, and as political advisor to the U.S. and Turkish commanding generals of Operation Provide Comfort, based in Turkey and operating in Iraq. In Washington, Ricciardone directed the Department of State's 9/11 Task Force on the Coalition Against Terrorism and served as Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's special coordinator for the Transition of Iraq (1999–2001). He also has served in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, and in senior management positions under the Director General of the Foreign Service and of Human Resources.

Early life and career

Ricciardone is the son of Francis Ricciardone Sr., a Seabee veteran of World War II.^[5] He graduated from Malden Catholic High School in Malden, Massachusetts.

Upon graduation summa cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1973, he received a Fulbright Scholarship for teaching and study in Italy. He went to Iran as a teacher in 1976 where he taught at the Community School, Tehran, traveling widely in Southwest Asia, Europe, and the Middle East until he entered the Foreign Service in 1978.^[6]

He speaks Italian, Turkish, Arabic and French.^[7]

He has been named president of the American University in Cairo and assumed office on July 1, 2016.^[8]

Foreign service

Nominated by President George W. Bush on July 25, 2005, and confirmed by the United States Senate on July 29, 2005, Ricciardone was sworn in as United States Ambassador to Egypt on August 26, 2005.

Ricciardone was Deputy Ambassador for the American mission to Afghanistan from May 2010.^[9][10][11]

Ricciardone's nomination to be ambassador to Turkey stalled during 2010, and in late 2010, President Obama gave Ricciardone a recess appointment so he could begin serving. The U.S. Senate then confirmed Ricciardone in a voice vote on October 4, 2011.^[12]

Family

Ricciardone is married to Marie, a molecular biologist^[13] who was educated and later taught in Turkish universities during her husband's service time in Turkey.^[5] The couple has two daughters, Francesca and Chiara. Francesca was born in Turkey. Both daughters were schooled in Ankara for three years.^[5]

U.S. Near Eastern Affairs Diplomats
Loy W. Henderson (1922–1960) Charles W. Yost (1930–1971) Dayton S. Mak (1946–1970) Hermann Eilts (1947–1979) William Stoltzfus (1949–1976) Andrew Killgore (1949–1980) Richard Bordeaux Parker (1949–1981) William L. Eagleton (1949–1988) Robert O. Waring (194?–1976) Clifford J. "Pat" Quinlan (1950–1980) Talcott Williams Seelye (1950–1981) Joseph J. Sisco (1951–1976) Alfred Atherton (1954–1984) Nicholas A. Veliotes (1955–1986) Richard W. Murphy (1955–1989) Joseph W. Twinam (195?–1985) Peter A. Sutherland (195?-198?) Robert Pelletreau (1962–1996) W. Nathaniel Howell (1965–1992) Edward Djerejian (1966–1994) Hume Horan (1966–1998) April Glaspie (1966–2002) Wat T. Cluverius IV (1967–?) Edward S. Walker Jr. (1967–2001) Edward Gnehm (1969–2003) Ronald E. Neumann (1970–2007) Ryan Crocker (1972–present) Harold H. Saunders (1974–1981) Barbara Bodine (1975–present) Mary Ann Casey (1976-1994) David Welch (1977–2008) Francis J. Ricciardone Jr. (1978–present) Daniel C. Kurtzer (1981–2006) William Joseph Burns (1982–present) Zalmay Khalilzad (1984–present) Dennis Ross (1989–1992) Martin Indyk (1995–2001) James Steinberg (2009–present)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Francis J. Ricciardone, Jr..

• Francis Ricciardone's official website
• United States Embassy in Ankara: Ambassador Ricciardone's biography
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• "Testimony of Francis J. Ricciardone, Ambassador-Designate to the Republic of Turkey", Senate Foreign Relations Committee, July 20, 2010