Melville, James Desmond, 1957-

<p>President Barack Obama on May 6, 2015, announced his intent to nominate James D. Melville Jr., a career member of the Foreign Service, as the next ambassador to Estonia. He was confirmed by the Senate August 5, 2015.</p>

<p>Melville is from Bradley Beach, New Jersey. He attended Boston University, earning a B.A. in history in 1979. He returned to New Jersey for law school and earned his J.D. from Rutgers in 1982.</p>

<p>Melville’s first overseas assignment in the Foreign Service was as an assistant general services officer in the U.S. embassy in Berlin, in what was then the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany. Both his sons were born to his wife Joanna while Melville was stationed there. He later recounted that one of his fondest memories as a Foreign Service Officer was to be there when President Ronald Reagan visited Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate in June 1987 and the president made his famous “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” speech.</p>

<p>Melville’s next assignment was one of his few outside Europe, as a consular officer in Victoria in the Seychelles. He later served as an administrative officer in the U.S. consulate in Leningrad.</p>

<p>Melville returned to the United States in 1993 as a legislative management officer in the State Department’s Bureau of Legislative Affairs. In 1995, he was made a senior watch officer in the department’s operations center and the following year because a Foreign Service examiner.</p>

<p>In 1997, he went overseas again. By this time, Melville’s specialty had become management of U.S. missions, and in this assignment he was an administrative officer for the U.S. mission to NATO in Brussels, Belgium. He followed up that assignment in 2001 with one as a management officer in the embassy in Paris. Melville was named minister/counselor for management affairs in the embassy in Moscow in 2005 and assumed a similar role in the London embassy in 2008.</p>

<p>In 2010, Melville returned to the United States to become executive director of the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs and International Organization Affairs, providing support to 79 U.S. missions under those umbrellas.</p>

<p>Melville returned to Berlin in August 2012 as deputy chief of mission, serving for a time in 2013 as chargé d’affaires.</p>

<p>Melville speaks German, Russian and French.</p>

<p>James Desmond Melville, Jr. (born 1957) is an American diplomat who has served as the United States Ambassador to Estonia from December 8, 2015 to June 29, 2018, when he resigned as Ambassador, effective on July 29, 2018.</p>

<p>James D. Melville graduated from Boston University with an honors degree in history, and from Rutgers University School of Law.</p>

<p>J. D. Melville's first Foreign Service assignment was in the U.S. Embassy to the German Democratic Republic from 1986-1988. He then served in Seychelles, St. Petersburg, at the U.S. Mission to NATO, and in Paris. In Washington, he worked in Legislative Affairs, as a Senior Watch Officer in the Operations Center, and at the Foreign Service Board of Examiners. From 2008 to 2010 he served as Minister-Counselor for Management Affairs at the Embassy in London. From 2010 to 2012, he served as Executive Director of the Bureaus of European and Eurasian Affairs and International Organization Affairs. As Executive Director of EUR and IO, Ambassador Melville directed support for all of EUR and IO's 79 overseas posts, as well as the domestic requirements for both bureaus.</p>

<p>Melville's most recent position with the State Department was as the Deputy Chief of Mission in the U.S. Embassy Berlin, Germany.</p>

<p>He was nominated by President Obama as the next U.S. Ambassador to Estonia on May 7, 2015, and confirmed by the Senate on August 5, 2015. He was sworn-in on September 18, 2015. He presented his credentials to President Toomas Hendrik Ilves on December 8, 2015. On June 29, 2018, he resigned as Ambassador over President Donald Trump’s statements in regards to NATO and the European Union, effective on July 29.</p>

<p>Melville is originally from Bradley Beach, New Jersey. Melville speaks Russian, German, and French.</p>

<p>The College of Charleston has appointed James D. Melville Jr., a retired U.S. ambassador with more than three decades of experience as a foreign service officer with the U.S. Department of State, as associate dean for international and community outreach in the School of Languages, Cultures, and World Affairs (LCWA) and as a faculty member in the school’s International Studies program.</p>

<p>As associate dean for international and community outreach, Melville’s responsibilities will include promoting the school’s strengths and achievements, bringing distinguished speakers and visitors to campus, facilitating the creation of national and international internship and study-abroad experiences for College of Charleston students and seeking out fundraising opportunities to support the school’s work.</p>

<p>Originally from Bradley Beach, New Jersey, Melville graduated from Boston University with an honors degree in history. He holds a law degree from Rutgers University and is a member of the bars of New Jersey and New York. He speaks Russian, German and French.</p>

<p>Melville served under six U.S. presidents and spent a total of 33 years with the U.S. Foreign Service, including assignments in the German Democratic Republic, St. Petersburg, at the U.S. Mission to NATO, Paris, Moscow and London. In Washington D.C., he worked in legislative affairs, as a Senior Watch Officer in the Operations Center, and at the Foreign Service Board of Examiners. He was nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate to become U.S. Ambassador to Estonia in 2015.</p>