Yousif B. Ghafari is the U.S. Ambassador to Slovenia, having been nominated by President Bush on December 11, 2007, and confirmed by the Senate on April 29, 2008. He was sworn in on May 15, 2008. He was founder and former chairman of GHAFARI, a firm of architects, engineers, consultants, and staffing specialists involved in projects in aviation, manufacturing, government, and commercial sector. In 2004 and 2005, Ambassador Ghafari served as Public Delegate Designate at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations for the 59th United Nations General Assembly. He was appointed by President George W. Bush to the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board in 2005. He was also a founding member of the “Partnership for Lebanon,” a collaborative effort by U.S. firms and the U.S. government to help Lebanon revitalize itself economically. Ambassador Ghafari is considered one of the Detroit area's leading philanthropists. In 1995, he was named one of the Top 100 "Executive Heroes" in southeastern Michigan and he is also a member of the International Institute of Metropolitan Detroit's “Hall of Fame." In 2005, Wayne State University acknowledged his longtime support by renaming one of its residence buildings: Yousif B. Ghafari Hall. He is also an active member of numerous business and sports clubs, and an enthusiastic athlete, having run the Boston Marathon and Detroit Free Press International Marathon. Ambassador Ghafari is married and has three children. Released on May 23, 2008 |