Ambassador
Ambassador Jay N. Anania
Ambassador Jay N. Anania was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Suriname in April 2012 and began his duties in October 2012.
His previous appointment was Management Counselor at Embassy Baghdad starting in July 2011, with responsibility for management operations across the U.S. Mission in Iraq, including support for the Embassy, Consulates General in Basrah and Erbil, and a Consulate in Kirkuk.
He is a Senior Foreign Service Officer and joined the State Department in 1984.
Mr. Anania has extensive experience performing management work at seven overseas posts and in executive level positions at the Department of State. As Executive Director for the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, he provided management support and direction to over 30 diplomatic posts from Morocco to Bangladesh, including Missions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.
From 2006-2009, he was Minister-Counselor for Management at U.S. Mission Germany, Embassy Berlin, also serving as Acting Deputy Chief of Mission for seven months. He managed the highly-successful move to the new Embassy Chancery next to the Brandenburg Gate. Previously, he served as the State Department's Acting Chief Information Management Officer, heading the Bureau of Information Resource Management for nine months. He implemented several mobile computing programs during this period. He also reported to the Under Secretary for Management while heading the Department's Offices of Management Policy and Rightsizing the USG Overseas Presence. In the latter role, he led Department efforts to "rightsize" overseas staffing by removing work from overseas posts to regional or domestic locations, with the goals of improving support quality, moving staff away from dangerous locations, and increasing cost efficiency.
His other assignments include: Management Officer, Consulate General Hong Kong; Administrative Officer, Embassy Office Berlin; Administrative Officer, Embassy Abu Dhabi; Post Management Officer, Bureau of European and Canadian Affairs; General Services Officer, U.S. Interests Section Havana and at U.S. Embassy Amman; Vice Consul and Administrative Officer, Consulate General Tijuana.
He earned an MBA from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and a BA (history) from Kenyon College.
He is married with two sons. He enjoys playing tennis, swimming, listening to music, reading and watching movies.