Lu, Donald, 1966-

The U.S. Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic, Donald Lu, was sworn in on September 18, 2018. Prior to this assignment, Ambassador Lu was the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Albania. His overseas postings include Deputy Chief of Mission in India, Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan. He also served for a year as Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan. Ambassador Lu worked on the Ebola crisis in West Africa as Deputy Coordinator for Ebola Response in the State Department.

Mr. Lu is a Foreign Service Officer with 28 years of U.S. government service, including assignments in Pakistan, India, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan and Washington. As a Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone, West Africa from 1988-1990, he helped to restore hand-dug water wells and to teach health education and latrine construction.

Mr. Lu is from Huntington Beach, California. He graduated from Princeton University with both master’s and bachelor’s degrees in international relations. He is married to Dr. Ariel Ahart, and together they have two children, Kip, age 16, and Aliya, age 13. He speaks Albanian, Russian, Georgian, Azerbaijani, Urdu, Hindi, and West African Krio. He enjoys biking, watching movies, traveling, and spending time with his family.