Ahh fuck it. Here you go. Looks like a who's who of the wealthy and privileged and only one with any foreign policy or diplomatic experience. Those are the ambassadorships.
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John Roos, Japan:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id ... _article=1Quote:
WASHINGTON, May 19 (AP) - (Kyodo)—California-based lawyer John Roos has emerged as President Barack Obama's likely choice as the next ambassador to Japan, a source close to Japan-U.S. relations said Tuesday.
The source said the formal choice will be announced soon.
If nominated and approved by the Senate, Roos, one of Obama's top fundraisers during the presidential campaign, will serve as the point man of U.S. policy on Japan, a key ally in Asia.
The post of ambassador to Japan was initially to be awarded to Joseph Nye, a Harvard University professor emeritus and former assistant secretary of defense.
But Roos is now seen as more suitable since he enjoys strong personal ties with Obama, similar to those between former President George W. Bush and his envoy to Japan, Thomas Schieffer.
Roos is little known among U.S. and Japanese officials, raising some doubt about his qualifications.
Roos graduated from Stanford University's law school in 1980. He is chief executive officer of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, a law firm in Silicon Valley.
Charles Rivkin, France:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_RivkinQuote:
Charles Rivkin has been named as President Obama’s candidate to serve as the United States Ambassador to France. He was the president and chief executive officer of W!LDBRAIN, an entertainment and animation production company whose television series include Yo Gabba Gabba! and Higglytown Heroes. Rivkin is an executive producer of Yo Gabba Gabba!, which airs on Nickelodeon and Noggin cable networks.[1]
Prior to joining W!LDBRAIN in September 2005, Rivkin had worked for The Jim Henson Company for 15 years. He joined the company in 1988 as director of strategic planning and in 1995 was named president and chief operating officer. Rivkin served as the company's CEO from 2000 to 2003—the first chief executive who was not a member of the Henson family.[2]
Rivkin was also the California Finance Co-chair for Barack Obama's campaign and is in line to be chosen as U.S. Ambassador to France.
Bruce Oreck, Finland
http://diplopundit.blogspot.com/2009/07 ... sinki.htmlQuote:
Bruce Oreck was a partner in the New Orleans, Louisiana law firm of Liskow & Lewis from 1981 until 1992 where his practice was centered on the representation of the oil and gas industry. He went on to found his own firm: Oreck, Crighton, Adams & Chase, where he represented primarily Fortune 100 companies in connection with state and local tax issues. Mr. Oreck also served as Vice President and General Counsel for his family business, The Oreck Corporation (the manufacturer and seller of Oreck vacuum cleaners), from 1993 until the company was sold in 2003.
Mr. Oreck is the author of a number of treatises and legal publications. Separate from his legal practice, Mr. Oreck founded and operated a real estate development company. Originally focused on historic restorations, he renovated and restored over 100,000 square feet of historic homes and apartment buildings in New Orleans, Louisiana.
He also founded The Zero Carbon Initiative, is a founding member of the Board of Trustees for The Grand Canyon Trust, and remains very active in environmental matters. Mr. Oreck served as a member of Colorado Governor Bill Ritter’s New Energy transition advisory team and as a member of the Colorado Climate Action Panel.
Louis Susman, UK:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/ma ... uis-susmanQuote:
Susman, 71, a vice-president of Citigroup until he retired in February, has long been a backer of the Democrats, nicknamed the Vacuum Cleaner by the Chicago Tribune for his ability to hoover up campaign funding. "I don't think anyone enjoys raising money, but for some reason I seem to have a knack," he told the paper. Susman, who lives in an expensive neighbourhood of Chicago overlooking Lake Michigan, raised at least $500,000 (£320,000) for Obama's campaign and a further $300,000 for his inauguration.
He is so much a part of Obama's inner circle that he was invited to an exclusive party on the Sunday before the inauguration. Other guests included Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, who typifies the sharp-suited, foul-mouthed approach of those brought up on Chicago politics.
Vinai Thummalapally, India
http://diplopundit.blogspot.com/2009/06 ... ly-to.htmlQuote:
Mr. Thummalapally is the President of MAM-A Inc., a manufacturer and distributor of recordable optical discs. Prior to his role at MAM-A Inc., he served as the plant manager for Mitsui Advanced Media Inc., which also manufactures recordable optical discs. He has served in several other similar roles in his 31-year career, including as General Manager for WEA Manufacturing, as a Managing Partner of Clines Office Products, and as Manufacturing Manager of Disc Manufacturing, Inc.
He received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from California State University and completed post graduate courses in Business Administration.
Laurie Fulton, Denmark
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?ti ... _S._FultonQuote:
'Laurie S. Fulton "is a distinguished attorney with a national trial practice in federal and state courts in complex civil litigation and criminal defense. She has served as counsel in product liability litigation, mass tort litigation defense, and class action lawsuits. Her criminal defense practice includes federal criminal antitrust, bank gratuities, and wire fraud. A graduate of the University of Nebraska at Omaha and Georgetown University Law Center, Fulton previously served as the executive director for Peace Links and for ACCESS, a security information service. Her government service includes work for Senator James Abourezk (D-South Dakota) and Representative (now Senator) Thomas Daschle (D-South Dakota). She is on the board of directors of Bright Beginnings and formerly served on the boards of both Peace Links and ACCESS.“ [1]
Nicole Avant, Bahamas
http://diplopundit.blogspot.com/2009/06 ... hamas.htmlQuote:
Ms. Avant serves as Vice President of Interior Music and Avant Garde Music Publishing. A business woman, philanthropist and activist, she has been recognized for her tireless efforts to mobilize the younger generation towards greater charitable and political involvement. She has worked as an academic counselor at The Neighborhood Academic Initiative, a USC mentorship program for high school students.
Ms. Avant serves as a board member for the Bogart Pediatric Cancer Research Program, the Center for American Progress and Best Buddies, and was named one of the American Cancer Society Next Generation Leaders in 2007.
Matthew Barzun, Sweden
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_BarzunQuote:
Matthew Barzun worked with CNET Networks for over a decade. Among the first four employees at CNET in 1993, Barzun was part of the entire range of the company’s growth, from start up to initial public offering and to eventual profitability.[4]
Early on Matthew Barzun was made a Vice President at CNET, during which time he built, launched and grew CNET’s Download.com service. Barzun was also instrumental in establishing CNET’s policy of purchasing domain names for the company to launch new sites, including news.com, builder.com and search.com [5]. The story of Barzun’s acquisition of these valuable web properties was told in Robert H. Reid’s book about the rise of the early Internet, “Architects of the Web: 1,000 Days that Built the Future of Business”[6]:
Barzan’s (sic) teeth-cutting name space assignment was the shareware.com name that later proved so inspiring. […] Emboldened, Barzan (sic) bartered & begged & bought until he had download.com, freeware.com, and (what the hell) activex.com. Somewhere in there he also got rights to news.com, which now points to CNET’s news stories (this switched on in September of 1996),
By 1998 Matthew Barzun was CNET’s Senior Vice President, and by 2000 he was Chief Strategy Officer. The rise through the company was noteworthy for such a young man (prompting columnist Dan Fost of the San Francisco Chronicle to pen the question “How can a 28-year-old be senior anything?”[7] ), but Barzun’s innovative ideas and tactics built upon his earlier successes. Barzun’s most recent business activities have involved Internet publishing start-ups. In 2006 he helped found a company called MedTrackAlert, which was later reportedly sold in 2008 to the Health Central Network.[8]
Don Beyer, Switzerland
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_BeyerQuote:
Donald S. "Don" Beyer, Jr. (born June 20, 1950) is an American business and political leader. He is an owner of automobile dealerships and is involved in community, political and philanthropic work. In June 2009, he was nominated to be the United States Ambassador to Switzerland.
Previously, from 1990-98 he served as Lieutenant Governor of Virginia as a Democrat during the gubernatorial administrations of Democrat Doug Wilder (1990-1994) and Republican George Allen (1994-1998).
William C. Eacho, III, Austria
http://www.usembassy.at/en/embassy/press_rel_eacho1.htmQuote:
William Eacho is the CEO of Carlton Capital Group, LLC, a private investment company focused on real estate and private investments primarily dealing with alternative energy and technology. Previously, he was the executive vice president of Alliant Foodservice, Inc., a $6 billion national food service distributor based in Chicago, with primary responsibility for technology and acquisition strategy. He joined Alliant after the company’s acquisition of Atlantic Food Services in Manassas, Virginia. Under Mr. Eacho's leadership, Atlantic increased its sales tenfold. Prior to that Mr. Eacho was a founding co-chairman of UniPro Foodservice Inc., the food service distribution industry's top procurement and marketing cooperative, with combined member sales of over $20 billion. From 1996-1997, Mr. Eacho served as chairman of ComSource, a $9 billion cooperative, until helping to negotiate a merger with its leading competitor, EMCO, to create UniPro Foodservice. Mr. Eacho serves on the boards of directors of Capital Transportation Inc., Stanley Martin Companies Inc., Systems 4 Inc. and Bialek Healthcare Environments Inc.
Donald Gips, South Africa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Gips(holy shit someone with foreign policy experience, woohoo!)
Quote:
Donald H. Gips, born in 1960, is the Divisional Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Development for Level 3 Communications.[1] and Director of Mindspeed Technologies, Incorporated. He is also on the advisory board for President Barack Obama's presidential transition team.[2]
In the late 1990s Gips served as the United States Vice President Al Gore's Chief Domestic Policy Advisor.[3] Previously, he was the chief of the Federal Communications Commission’s international bureau.[1]
Howard Gutman, Belgium
http://diplopundit.blogspot.com/2009/06 ... an-to.htmlQuote:
Howard Gutman is a partner with Williams & Connolly LLP. Identified as one of "Washington's Top Lawyers" by Washingtonian magazine, Mr. Gutman’s practice areas focus on commercial litigation, including securities, contracts, antitrust, labor, banking, real estate, intellectual property, insurance coverage, international law and partnership disputes. Mr. Gutman's clients have included Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, financial services firms, labor unions, pension funds, law and accounting firms, government entities, real estate developers, sports teams, and political candidates. He is also litigation counsel for Friedman, Billings & Ramsey, a top ten U.S. investment bank.
Mr. Gutman previously served as a Special Assistant to F.B.I Director William H. Webster, focusing on counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence; as a law clerk to Justice Potter Stewart on the United States Supreme Court; and as a law clerk to Judge Irving L. Goldberg on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Mr. Gutman has been an Editor of Litigation Magazine for over 24 years and an active participant in the ABA's Litigation Section. He is a member of the Board of the Washington Hebrew Home in Rockville, Maryland.
David Jacobson, Canada
http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2009/06 ... obama.html(I love that the guy who donated the least got the Canad gig. Gotta pony up if you want the Caribbean or European hot spots, bro)
Quote:
WASHINGTON--President Obama tapped Chicago attorney David Jacobson, who was the Obama presidential campaign deputy finance chair, to be the U.S. ambassador to Canada on Thursday.
Jacobson is already at the White House. He is a special assistant to the president in the Office of Presidential Personnel. His focus is on filling slots on executive branch boards and commissions.
Before heading to Washington, Jacobson, 57, who grew up in north suburban Highland Park, was a partner at the Chicago office of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP. He specialized in securities and complex litigation.