Deputy Chief of Mission - Laura F. Dogu

Deputy Chief of Mission - Laura F. Dogu

A career member of the U.S. Senior Foreign Service, Laura F. Dogu arrived in Mexico City to take up her duties as Deputy Chief of Mission in February 2012.  A diplomat since 1991, Ms. Dogu returned to Mexico where she had previously served as Deputy Principal Officer and Consular Section Chief at the U.S. Consulate General in Ciudad Juarez from 2007 through 2010.

Prior to assuming her most recent duties in Mexico, Ms. Dogu served as the Deputy Executive Director in the Bureau of Consular Affairs in the Department of State in Washington, D.C.  A career consular officer, she worked to protect the lives and interests of American citizens abroad and to strengthen the security of United States borders through the vigilant adjudication of visas and passports.  Ms. Dogu previously served as the Country Consular Coordinator at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, from 2002 until 2006 and as the Deputy Consular Section Chief at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, from 1999-2002.  She had earlier assignments in the Department of State Operations Center, as a Staff Assistant in the Bureau of Consular Affairs, and at the U.S. Embassies in Ankara, Turkey, and San Salvador, El Salvador.  She speaks Spanish, Turkish, and Arabic.

Ms. Dogu received the 2006 Department of State Barbara Watson Award for Consular Excellence for her efforts to protect children through the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abduction.  She has also received several Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards.

Following her personal interest in financial planning, in 2009 Ms. Dogu co-authored a book on retirement planning and is a published financial columnist.  

Ms. Dogu is a 2007 graduate from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, National Defense University with a Masters Degree in National Resource Strategy. She also holds a Master of Business Administration, Bachelor of Business Administration, and Bachelor of Arts degrees from Southern Methodist University.  Before joining the U.S. Government, Ms. Dogu worked as a Marketing Representative for International Business Machines (IBM) serving customers in the distribution and services industries. Ms. Dogu is married, and she and her husband have two sons.