Deputy Chief of Mission Stephen Michael Schwartz

Deputy Chief of Mission Stephen Michael Schwartz

Stephen Michael Schwartz began his assignment as Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) at the U.S. Embassy in Lusaka, Zambia on July 28, 2010.  This follows a two-year assignment as Deputy Director in the Office of Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific Island Affairs.

Mr. Schwartz served from 2004-2007 as DCM at the U.S. Embassy in Port Louis, Mauritius, which was responsible for relations with the Indian Ocean nations of Mauritius, Seychelles, and Comoros.  He has performed political, economic, consular, and management work during overseas assignments in Pretoria, South Africa (2001-2004); Havana, Cuba (1999-2001); Bujumbura, Burundi (1995-1996); and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (1992-1994).  Mr. Schwartz's other domestic assignments were as Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (1998-1999) and Desk officer for Sudan (1996-1998).  He has been a career Foreign Service Officer since 1992.

Previously, Mr. Schwartz worked at a non-governmental organization supporting transition in Eastern Europe & the former Soviet Union and in the Africa Program at the Brookings Institution.  In the early 1980s he was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cameroon and Peace Corps Desk Officer for Mauritania, Mali, and Burkina Faso. 

Mr. Schwartz graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio in May 1980 with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.  He received a Masters degree in African Studies in 1988 from the University of London and earned a Masters degree in National Security Strategy in 2008 at the National War College in Washington, DC. 

Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, Mr. Schwartz speaks French and Spanish.  He and his wife, Kristy Cook, have a 12-year old daughter and a 10-year old son.