At the time of his appointment, Ambassador Untermeyer was vice president for government affairs of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and professor of public policy.

Ambassador Untermeyer is a 1968 graduate of Harvard College with honors in government. He served in the United States Navy during the Vietnam war as a destroyer officer in the Pacific and as aide to the commander of U.S. naval forces in the Philippines.

Ambassador Untermeyer began his career as a political reporter for the Houston Chronicle and as a member of the Texas House of Representatives, to which he was elected in 1976 from a district in Houston.

When Ronald Reagan became president of the United States in 1981, Ambassador Untermeyer went to Washington to serve as executive assistant to then-Vice President George H.W. Bush. Three years later, President Reagan appointed him assistant secretary of the Navy for manpower and reserve affairs. During the administration of the President George H.W. Bush, he returned to the White House as director of presidential personnel, and from 1991 until 1993 he was director of the Voice of America.

After leaving Washington, Ambassador Untermeyer continued his public service as member and chairman of the Board of Visitors of the United States Naval Academy; as a member of the board of National Public Radio; as a member of the Houston Port Commission; and as chairman of the Texas State Board of Education, to which he was appointed by then-Governor George W. Bush.