Westphal, Joseph William, 1948-

<p>Joseph William Westphal (1948–)<br>
Non-career appointee<br>
State of Residence: New York</p>

<p>Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (Saudi Arabia)<br>
Appointed: March 26, 2014<br>
Presentation of Credentials: March 28, 2014<br>
Termination of Mission: Left post on January 8, 2017</p>

<p>Mr. Westphal served as the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 2014 to 2017. Prior to that, he was the under secretary of the U.S. Army and the Army's chief management officer. His extensive experience in government includes holding positions in the administrations of Presidents Carter, Reagan, Clinton, Bush and Obama, during which he worked on policy issues including the environment, energy, national security, national infrastructure and development. Westphal also worked in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate for 12 years.</p>

<p>Mr. Westphal is currently senior global fellow at the Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management and International Affairs, and senior fellow at the Leadership Center at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He has served as the chancellor of the University of Maine System and has held academic positions at the University of Maine, Georgetown University, The New School University and Oklahoma State University. Westphal is also a fellow at the National Academy of Public Administration.</p>

<p>Mr. Westphal holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He was born in Santiago, Chile, and is fluent in Spanish.</p>

<p>Joseph W. Westphal (born January 26, 1948) is an American politician and diplomat who was most recently the United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. He served as the 30th United States Under Secretary of the Army from 2009 to 2014.</p>

<p>Westphal was born in Santiago, Chile. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Adelphi University in New York and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Missouri.</p>

<p>Westphal served as the head of the Department of Political Science at Oklahoma State University between 1975 and 1987 and as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University while working at the law firm of Patton Boggs. He served as Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works from 1998 to 2001 and the Acting Secretary of the Army in 2001. He also served as Chancellor of the University of Maine System from 2002–2006 and was a professor of Political Science at the University of Maine from 2002 – 2009. He later served as the Provost, at The New School in New York City.</p>

<p>Westphal was a member of President Obama’s Transition Team for Defense and was appointed as the United States Under Secretary of the Army in September 2009. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Ambassador to Saudi Arabia on March 26, 2014 and sworn in the same day. Westphal is a Senior Global Fellow at the Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies at the Wharton School, The University of Pennsylvania. Westphal is also a Senior Fellow at the Wharton Leadership Program at UPenn.</p>