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Ambassador

Ambassador E. Anthony Wayne

Ambassador portrait

Ambassador E. Anthony Wayne

Earl Anthony "Tony" Wayne was nominated by President Obama to be Ambassador of the United States to Mexico on June 9, 2011 and was confirmed by the Senate August 2.  Ambassador Wayne served as Deputy Ambassador in Kabul, Afghanistan from May 2010 until June 2011.  As Deputy Ambassador, he supervised all Embassy sections, programs, agencies, and offices in the field under the leadership of Ambassador Karl Eikenberry.  The previous year he held the position of Coordinating Director for Development and Economic Affairs, overseeing U.S. government non-military assistance to the Afghan nation. 

A career diplomat since 1975, Ambassador Wayne served as U.S. Ambassador to Argentina from November 2006 to June 2009 where he strengthened bilateral cooperation between the United States and Argentina in such areas as fighting international crime, narcotics trafficking, and terrorism, supporting non-proliferation, peace-keeping, and protection of human rights, and expanding education, youth exchanges, and cooperation in scientific research.   With more than 500 U.S. firms based in Argentina, Ambassador Wayne promoted U.S. commercial interests and supported substantial increases in bilateral trade and tourism.  He also greatly expanded cooperation with Argentine civil society.

From June 2000 until June 2006, Ambassador Wayne was Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs (EB), making him the longest serving assistant secretary since the inception of that bureau.  He oversaw work on post-conflict economic assistance, economic sanctions, international debt, development and economic reform policies, combating terrorism finance, international energy policy, trade, intellectual property and investment policies, international telecommunications policy, international transportation policies, support for U.S. businesses overseas, and efforts to end trade in "conflict diamonds."

As Assistant Secretary, Ambassador Wayne led EB’s work on:

  • organizing major international donor and reconstruction conferences;
  • placing terrorists and their financiers under UN sanctions and building international coalitions to stop the flow of money to terrorists;
  • negotiating debt relief and economic reform packages for partner countries;
  • supporting U.S. companies in international commercial disputes as well as trade negotiations;
  • negotiating "open skies" and other agreements benefiting the U.S. transportation, high-tech and communications industries;
  • helping to formulate development policy.

He served as Interim Under Secretary for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs for six months in 2005.  During this time, he also served as U.S. Foreign Affairs "sous sherpa" helping to prepare the Gleneagles G-8 Summit, in addition to his duties as Assistant Secretary.

For most of the 1990s, Ambassador Wayne worked on European affairs.  He was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of European Affairs, 1997-2000, and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Europe and Canada, 1996-97.  His portfolio included relations with the European Union, the OECD, the G-8, regional economic and global issues, Nazi restitution, bureau management, and U.S.-Canadian relations.  Ambassador Wayne was Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Mission to the European Union, 1993-96.  From 1991 to 1993, he was Director for Western European Affairs at the National Security Council.  During the 1990s, Ambassador Wayne helped organize the semi-annual U.S.-EU summits, helped formulate and negotiate the U.S.-EU New Transatlantic Agenda, and played a key role in the successful Stability Pact Summit held in Sarajevo in 1999.

Ambassador Wayne was Director for Regional Affairs for the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Counter-Terrorism from 1989 to 1991.  He took a leave of absence and worked as the national security correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor, 1987-89.  He served as First Secretary at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, 1984-87.

Ambassador Wayne was Special Assistant to Secretaries of State Haig and Shultz from 1981 to 1983.  During the tenure of Secretary Muskie, he served in the State Department's Executive Secretariat.  Earlier, he was posted as a political officer in Rabat, Morocco, and, in his first tour, served as a China analyst in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research.

Ambassador Wayne was confirmed as a "Career Ambassador" in December 2010.  In 2010, he received the Cordell Hull Award for Economic Achievement by Senior Officers, and in 2008, he received the Paul Wellstone Anti-Slavery Ambassador of the Year Award for his work against trafficking in persons.  During the last decade, Ambassador Wayne also received the Department of State’s Distinguished Honor Award and Presidential Distinguished and Meritorious Service Awards. 

Ambassador Wayne has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Harvard University (1984), Master’s Degrees in Political Science from Princeton University (1975) and Stanford University (1973), and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley (1972).  Ambassador Wayne is married and has a daughter and a son.