Yamate, Robert T., 1950-

Robert T. Yamate (born 1950) is an American diplomat and a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. He notably served as U.S. Ambassador to Madagascar and Comoros (2014-2018).

A native of Monterey Park, California, Yamate earned an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh in 1983, an MA in teaching from the University of LaVerne, California in 1977, and a B.S. in mathematics from California Polytechnic University at Pomona in California in 1973.

Early Foreign Service assignments included Tokyo, Japan; Budapest, Hungary; and the State Department Operations Center in Washington, D.C. From 1989 to 1991, Yamate served as the administrative officer at the U.S. embassy in Antananarivo, Madagascar. Following that, he became a management officer at the U.S. consulate in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In 1994, Yamate was assigned as charge d’affaires at the U.S. embassy in Apia, Samoa. Yamate returned to Washington, D.C. in 1997 as deputy executive director in the Office of Personnel. He then went on to Taipei as the administrative officer at the American Institute in Taiwan. He returned to Africa in 2002 as a management counselor at the U.S. embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe, and later as minister counselor for management at the U.S. embassy in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire.

Yamate was then appointed as minister counselor for management at the United States Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Yamate returned to Washington, D.C. in 2008 for an assignment in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. In 2010, Yamate became the deputy chief of mission in Dakar, Senegal, acting as charge d’affaires for a time in 2012. In 2013, he became an assessor on the State Department's Board of Examiners.

Nominated to be United States Ambassador to Madagascar and Comoros on July 31, 2014, Yamate testified to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on September 11, 2014, and was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 19, 2014. He presented his credentials in Madagascar on January 14, 2015, and in Comoros on February 3, 2015. He left his post on April 1, 2018, retiring from the Foreign Service. On October 1, 2018, he was appointed Senior Advisor and Care Coordinator in the Office of the Director General of the Foreign Service.

Yamate received two Senior Foreign Service Performance Awards, four Superior Honor Awards, and five Meritorious Honor Awards from the Department of State. He is married to Michiko Yamate and speaks French, Japanese and Hungarian.