Bernadette Meehan

Bernadette M. Meehan (born 1975) is an American diplomat who has sered as the United States ambassador to Chile since 2022. She previously worked as chief international officer for the Obama Foundation.[1] She also served as a spokesperson for the United States National Security Council in the Obama Administration.

Bernadette Meehan
Official portrait, 2022
United States Ambassador to Chile
Assumed office
September 30, 2022
PresidentJoe Biden
Preceded byCarol Z. Perez
Spokesperson for the United States National Security Council
In office
October 2014 – June 2015
PresidentBarack Obama
Personal details
Born1975 (age 47–48)
NationalityAmerican
SpouseEvan S. Medeiros
EducationBoston College (BA)

Early life and education

Meehan was raised in Pleasantville, New York and graduated from Kennedy Catholic High School in Somers.[2] She attended Boston College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science.[2] After graduation she worked on Wall Street, first at JPMorgan Chase and then Lehman Brothers.[3] She later joined the United States Foreign Service.[2][4][5]

Career

Meehan joined the United States Department of State as a Foreign Service officer in 2004, and began her new career as a consular officer at the U.S. embassy in Bogota, Colombia.[4] She survived a kidnapping and physical assault by armed men in Bogota in April 2006. Two of the perpetrators were arrested and sentenced to ten years in jail, while two perpetrators were never found.[6]

She served in Colombia for two years before volunteering to serve in Iraq. She worked at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad from 2006 to 2007 as a Consular Officer, and for several months as Special Assistant to Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad.[4] She was wounded in Baghdad, by a rocket fired by an Iran-backed militia.

In September 2007 Meehan left Iraq to study Arabic at the Department of State's Foreign Service Institute in Virginia to prepare for her next tour as the public affairs officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.[4]

Meehan was selected in 2007 as a Powell Fellow, recognized as one of the 12 most promising future leaders in the Department of State.[5]

In 2010 she returned to Washington, D.C. to work as a State Department "Line Officer", advancing the Secretary of State’s overseas travel. She then become one of two Special Assistants to the Secretary of State.[4] In 2012, Meehan was detailed to the White House National Security Council (NSC) and in 2014 she became the spokeswoman for the National Security Council.

Meehan left the NSC in 2015 to become an adjunct professor and State Department resident fellow at Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.[7] She was recalled to the NSC to oversee the planning for President Obama's historic trip to Havana, Cuba. According to The New York Times, her appointment to this position reflected the importance the President put on the trip and the complicated nature of planning the visit.[8]

In February 2017, Meehan departed the Foreign Service to serve as the Chief International Officer at the Obama Foundation.[9] The Obama Foundation is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization founded by President and Mrs. Obama that seeks out to inspire, empower and connect people to change their world for the better.[10] In this role, she was responsible for developing and overseeing all international programs for the Obama Foundation, including the Obama Foundation Scholars;[11] Leaders Africa program; Leaders Asia-Pacific program;[12] and Leaders Europe program.

Meehan served on the board of advisors for Georgetown University's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, within the Walsh School of Foreign Service.[13] She also served on the board of advisors for Hostage US, a non-profit organization that supports families of Americans taken hostage abroad and supports hostages when they return home.[14]

United States ambassador to Chile
Meehan sworn in as ambassador to Chile by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in 2022

On July 9, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Meehan to be the next United States ambassador to Chile.[15] Hearings on her nomination were held before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 15, 2022. The committee favorably reported her nomination on May 18, 2022.[16] On July 20, 2022, the United States Senate confirmed her nomination by a 51–44 vote.[17] She was sworn in on August 29, 2022[18] and presented her credentials to President Gabriel Boric on September 30, 2022.[19]

Personal life

Meehan speaks Spanish and Arabic.

She is married to Evan Medeiros, the Penner Family Chair in Asian Studies at Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service. During the Obama Administration, Medeiros held senior positions on the National Security Council including Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Asia.

References
  1. O'Toole, Molly (5 February 2015). "White House Says Obama's New National Security Strategy a 'Compass' Through 'Shifting Security Landscape'". Defense One. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  2. "The gael fall 2015". Issuu. September 2015.
  3. "Boston College Magazine » Winter 2013 » Linden Lane » Capital gains". Archived from the original on 2015-06-25. Retrieved 2015-05-06.
  4. Meehan, Bernadette (8 February 2012). "RealJobs: Bernadette Meehan". BC Affairs. Archived from the original on 17 February 2015. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  5. "Bernadette Meehan | Institute for the Study of Diplomacy | Georgetown University". Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2015-12-14.
  6. Tiempo, Casa Editorial El (November 3, 2006). "Cárcel a dos hombres por 'paseo millonario' a vicecónsul de E.U." El Tiempo.
  7. "Georgetown Institute for the Study of Diplomacy".
  8. Davis, Julie Hirschfeld (7 March 2016). "White House and Cuba Maneuver Over Obama's Visit". The New York Times.
  9. "Obama Foundation Announces New Program to Train Emerging Leaders Across Africa". The Obama Foundation. April 23, 2018.
  10. "Our Mission". Obama Foundation. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
  11. "Coming to Columbia This Fall, Obama Foundation Scholars". The New York Times. June 28, 2018.
  12. "The Obamas to launch their foundation's 'Leaders: Asia Pacific' programme in KL this December". www.optionstheedge.com. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
  13. "Board of Advisors". Georgetown University.
  14. "Bernadette Meehan". Hostage US. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
  15. "President Biden Announces His Intent to Nominate Four Individuals to Serve as Ambassadors". The White House. 2021-07-09. Retrieved 2021-07-09.
  16. "PN787 — Bernadette M. Meehan — Department of State 117th Congress (2021-2022)". March 15, 2022. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  17. "On the Nomination (Confirmation: Bernadette M. Meehan, of New York, to be Ambassador of the United States of America to the Republic of Chile)". www.senate.gov. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
  18. "Quién es Bernadette Meehan, embajadora de EE. UU. En Chile" (in Spanish). 13 September 2022.
  19. Meehan, Bernadette [@USAmbCL] (September 30, 2022). "Presenté mis cartas credenciales al Presidente @gabrielboric" (Tweet) (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-10-01 – via Twitter.
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