Ambassador
John Tefft
Ambassador John F. Tefft was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine on November 20, 2009.
He has been a career Foreign Service Officer for over forty years. Before assuming his current position, Tefft served as Ambassador to Georgia (since 2005), and prior to that - as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs and was responsible for US relations with Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova.
From 2003-2004 Tefft was the International Affairs Advisor at the National War College in Washington, D.C. Tefft served as the United States Ambassador to Lithuania from 2000 to 2003. He was Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Moscow from 1996 to 1999, and was Charge d’Affaires from November 1996 to September 1997. His other Foreign Service assignments include Jerusalem, Budapest and Rome.
Tefft holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and a Master’s Degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
Among his awards are the State Department’s Distinguished Honor Award in 1992 and the DCM of the Year Award for his service in Moscow in 1999. He received Presidential Meritorious Service Awards in 2001 and 2005.
Tefft is married to Mariella Cellitti Tefft, a biostatistician and nurse. They have two daughters, Christine and Cathleen, who both live and work in Washington, D.C.
He has been a career Foreign Service Officer for over forty years. Before assuming his current position, Tefft served as Ambassador to Georgia (since 2005), and prior to that - as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs and was responsible for US relations with Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova.
From 2003-2004 Tefft was the International Affairs Advisor at the National War College in Washington, D.C. Tefft served as the United States Ambassador to Lithuania from 2000 to 2003. He was Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Moscow from 1996 to 1999, and was Charge d’Affaires from November 1996 to September 1997. His other Foreign Service assignments include Jerusalem, Budapest and Rome.
Tefft holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and a Master’s Degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
Among his awards are the State Department’s Distinguished Honor Award in 1992 and the DCM of the Year Award for his service in Moscow in 1999. He received Presidential Meritorious Service Awards in 2001 and 2005.
Tefft is married to Mariella Cellitti Tefft, a biostatistician and nurse. They have two daughters, Christine and Cathleen, who both live and work in Washington, D.C.