Galt, Jennifer Ann Zimdahl, 1959-

Jennifer Ann Zimdahl Galt (born 1959) is a U.S. diplomat. On May 6, 2015, President Barack Obama nominated Galt to be Ambassador of the United States of America to Mongolia. She was confirmed by the Senate on August 5, 2015, and was sworn in on September 15, 2015. She served in this post until November 10, 2017. She then served as acting Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs from November 13, 2017 until March 29, 2018.

A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Ambassador Galt formerly served as Principal Officer of the U.S. Consulate General, Guangzhou, China, where she had the privilege of leading and mentoring a talented team of nearly 500, comprising 133 American officers, of whom 62 were first- and second-tour, and over 300 locally engaged Chinese colleagues. Ambassador Galt’s previous postings overseas have included Belgrade, Taipei with the American Institute in Taiwan, Consulate General in Mumbai, Embassy in Beijing, Consulate General in Shanghai, and the U.S. Mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels. In Washington, Ambassador Galt served as Senior Advisor in the United States Department of State’s Bureau of Public Affairs and as Deputy Director for Public Diplomacy in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

Ambassador Galt holds master's degrees from National Defense University and from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), as well as a bachelor's degree in political science, history and languages from Colorado College in her home state of Colorado. She is fluent in Mandarin and French, and also speaks Italian, Spanish and Serbian. She is married to Fritz Galt, who writes spy novels set in some of the same places his wife has served. They have two children, Dylan and Phoebe.