Mozena, Dan W., 1949-

Dan Mozena (born May 1, 1949 in Dubuque, Iowa) is a United States Foreign Service Officer and a member of the Senior Foreign Service. He served as the United States Ambassador to Angola (August 2007–July 2010) and Bangladesh (November 2011–January 2015).

Mozena graduated from Iowa State University in 1970 with a Bachelor of Science degree in History and Government. He participated in a Cultural Exchange program to Nepal under the auspices of the National 4-H Council from 1970 to 1971. From 1971 to 1974, Mozena attended graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He graduated in 1974 with a Master of Arts degree in Political Science and a Master of Public Administration degree. From 1974 to 1976, Mozena was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zaire. Before joining the Foreign Service, Mozena worked as a Program Specialist from 1977 to 1981 for the National 4-H Council in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Mozena joined the State Department Foreign Service as a Political Officer in 1981. His first overseas assignments sent him to Africa, first to the Embassy in Lusaka, Zambia, to serve as a Consular Officer from 1982 to 1983, and then to serve as Economic and Political Officer at the Embassy in Kinshasa, Zaire, from 1983 to 1985. Mozena spent the next three years serving as a Public Diplomacy Officer at the State Department’s Office of Strategic Nuclear Policy from 1985 to 1988. He studied the Hindi language at the Foreign Service Institute from 1988 to 1989, and then served three years, 1989 to 1992, as Deputy Counselor for Political Affairs at the Embassy in New Delhi, India.

Shifting his focus back to Africa, Mozena served at State Department Headquarters as Officer-in-Charge of South African Affairs for 1992 to 1993, and as Deputy Director of the Office of Southern African Affairs from 1993 to 1995, during South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy. He also assisted with then-President Nelson Mandela’s historic state visit to Washington.

Mozena spent the next nine years overseas, returning to South Asia in 1995 to serve as Deputy Counselor for Political Affairs at the Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, until 1998, when he headed to the Embassy in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to serve as Counselor for Political and Economic Affairs through 2001. He went back to the scene of his first overseas assignment to serve as Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy in Lusaka, Zambia, from 2001 to 2004. Mozena was appointed Director of the Office of Southern African Affairs in 2004, and served three years in that capacity, until his first ambassadorial appointment in 2007, as Ambassador to Angola, a position he held from August 15, 2007, until July 2, 2010. For the 2010–2011 academic year, Mozena was Professor of National Security at the National War College in Washington, DC. He then served as Ambassador to Bangladesh from November 24, 2011 to January 12, 2015.

In 1971, Mozena married Grace Feeney. They have two children: Anne (1979) and Mark (1983).