U.S. President Barack Obama has announced his intention to nominate Geoffrey R. Pyatt as the next U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, the press service of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine reported on Wednesday.
Geoffrey R. Pyatt is a Senior Foreign Service officer whose 22-year State Department career has focused on Asia and Latin America.
Pyatt became Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the South and Central Asia Affairs Bureau in May 2010. Prior to that, from August 2007, he was Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Mission to the International Atomic Energy Agency and International Organizations in Vienna.
From 2002-2007 Pyatt served at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, first as Minister Counselor for Political Affairs and beginning in June 2006 as Deputy Chief of Mission. As DCM he served as chief operating officer for one of the United States’ largest and fastest growing foreign missions.
Prior to his India assignment, he served at the American Consulate General in Hong Kong, managing the trade and export control dialogue with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China.
From 1997 to 1999 he was Principal Officer of the American Consulate in Lahore – representing the United States in Pakistan’s largest and politically most important province.
His Washington assignments include Director for Latin America on the National Security Council staff (1996-97), Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of State (1995-96) and Staff Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for Latin America (1994). He was Political Officer in New Delhi, India from 1992-94 and Economic Officer and Vice-Consul in Tegucigalpa, Honduras from 1990-92.
Prior to joining the Foreign Service, he worked with The Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think tank that brings together leading citizens of the Americas.
Pyatt grew up in La Jolla, California and holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from Yale and B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine.
Incumbent U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Tefft was approved by the U.S. Senate on November 20, 2009.
