Donovan, Joseph R.

<p>Joseph R. Donovan Jr. is an American diplomat and the current United States Ambassador to Indonesia.</p>

<p>Joseph R. Donovan Jr. graduated from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. He earned a master's degree from the Naval Postgraduate School.</p>

<p>Donovan began his career as a Peace Corps volunteer in Seoul, South Korea, and he subsequently joined the United States Foreign Service, serving in Qatar. He was the Director of the USDS’s Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs from 2003 to 2005, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of the United States, Tokyo from 2005 to 2008, and the Consul General in Hong Kong from 2008 to 2009.[1] He was the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the USDS's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 2009 to 2011, Associate Professor at the National Defense University from 2011 to 2012, and Foreign Policy Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2012 to 2014. He was the managing director of the Washington, D.C. office of the American Institute in Taiwan from 2014 to 2016.</p>

<p>Donovan has served as the United States Ambassador to Indonesia since January 2017.</p>

<p>Joseph R. Donovan Jr. (?–)<br>
Career Foreign Service Officer<br>
State of Residence: Virginia</p>

<p>Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (Indonesia)<br>
Appointed: October 3, 2016<br>
Presentation of Credentials: January 12, 2017<br>
Termination of Mission: February 14, 2020</p>

<p>Joseph R. Donovan Jr. was confirmed on September 28, 2016, to be the next U.S. ambassador to Indonesia. It’s the first such posting for Donovan, a career member of the Foreign Service.</p>

<p>Donovan was born and raised in Goshen, New York. He attended Georgetown University, earning a B.S. in Foreign Service in 1973. He went on to earn an M.A. in national security studies from the Naval Postgraduate School 1993. After graduating from Georgetown, Donovan served as a Peace Corps volunteer for two years in Seoul, South Korea.</p>

<p>Donovan would spend almost all of his career dealing with East Asia. His early assignments with the State Department included stops in Taiwan, China, South Korea and Qatar.</p>

<p>In 1997, Donovan was named chief of the political/military unit in the embassy in Tokyo. His next posting was in Taipei, Taiwan, as the political section chief in the American Institute in Taiwan, which represents U.S. interests in that nation. He returned to Washington in 2003 as director of the Office of China, Hong Kong and Mongolia Affairs.</p>

<p>Donovan returned to Tokyo in 2005, this time as deputy chief of mission in the embassy there. During his tenure, he had to help manage the reaction to a U.S. Marine being accused of raping a girl in Okinawa.</p>

<p>In 2008, Donovan was named consul general for Hong Kong and Macau. The following year, he was brought home to serve as principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the East Asia and Pacific Bureau. Donovan had a short stint as an associate professor at the National War College in 2011 and 2012 before being named foreign policy adviser to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In 2014, he was named managing director of the American Institute in Taiwan’s Washington office, a post he held until becoming ambassador.</p>

<p>Donovan’s wife, Mei Chou Wu, is from Taiwan. They have two sons.</p>