Mario Mesquita

Deputy Chief of Mission Mario Mesquita (State Dept. Photo)

Mario Mesquita began his assignment as the Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See in August 2011. He is a career diplomat and has served in a variety of foreign and domestic assignments with the U.S. Department of State.

Prior to this assignment Mr. Mesquita served for three years in the Executive Secretariat of the State Department. Most recently he was the Deputy Director of the Executive Secretariat Staff, responsible for organizing the Secretary of State’s overseas and domestic travel, and coordinating the preparation of policy papers for the Secretary. Mr. Mesquita also spent one year as a Senior Watch Officer in the State Department Operations Center, the 24-hour crisis management and communications center of the Department.

In earlier assignments, he served as the Deputy Consul General at U.S. Embassy Prague, and held positions at U.S. Embassies Bogota and Warsaw between 1998 and 2003. He has also served in the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. Mr. Mesquita began his diplomatic career in 1998.

Mr. Mesquita speaks Italian, Spanish, Czech, and Polish. He is a graduate of the University of California at Davis, and is originally from Sacramento, California. He is joined in Rome by his wife, Alexandra McKnight, also a U.S. Foreign Service Officer, and their son, Alessandro.