MARK C. STORELLA. United States Ambassador to Lusaka, Zambia

Ambassador Mark C. Storella

Mark C. Storella was sworn in as President Obama’s personal representative and Ambassador to the Republic of Zambia on August 30, 2010. He serves simultaneously as the U.S. Representative to the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). He leads a mission of seven U.S. agencies with over 350 staff and a bilateral assistance budget of $380 million in 2011.

Ambassador Storella is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister Counselor. He most recently served as the Senior Coordinator for Iraqi Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, managing the U.S.’s $200 million humanitarian assistance programs in Iraq. From 2007-2009, he was Deputy Permanent Representative at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva where, as Chargé, he led the U.S.’s entry into the Human Rights Council and U.S. collaboration with the World Health Organization during the H1N1 influenza epidemic. He also served as Counselor for Refugee and Migration Affairs in Geneva from 2006-2007. Ambassador Storella was Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from 2003 to 2006.

Ambassador Storella previously served at U.S. embassies in Rome, Phnom Penh, Paris and Bangkok. At the Department of State, he was Executive Assistant to the Counselor and served on the NATO and Japan desks. Ambassador Storella was a Rusk Fellow at Georgetown University from 2001-2002 where he was also an Adjunct Professor teaching graduate and undergraduate courses on humanitarian action. He is author of monographs and articles on such diverse topics as multilateral arms control, humanitarianism in conflict situations and U.S.-Japan trade.

Ambassador Storella was the 2009 recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Award, granted by American Citizens Abroad. He received his A.B. from Harvard College, magna cum laude, and holds a masters degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. His foreign languages are French, Khmer, Italian and Thai. He is married and has two sons.