Powell, Nancy Jo, 1947-

<p>The U.S. ambassador to India has resigned following a row over the arrest of a junior Indian diplomat in New York that pushed relations between the world’s biggest democracies to their lowest ebb in more than a decade.</p>

<p>But trade relations were deteriorating even before the diplomatic row and in India’s eyes, Powell’s tenure never recovered from Khobragade’s treatment. India took retaliatory measures against the U.S. embassy, including removing the ambassador’s exemption from airport security searches.</p>

<p>Many Indian officials felt Powell had mishandled the case, which was related to the low wages that Khobragade paid a domestic worker. Both the Indian government and Narendra Modi, the opposition candidate who is favourite to become India’s next prime minister after elections that end in May, saw the arrest as U.S. hypocrisy and arrogance.</p>

<p>In response, India clamped down on alleged legal infractions by the embassy, including the visa status of teachers at the American Embassy School, an institution central to the lives of many expatriate employees of U.S. corporations in Delhi.</p>

<p>Nancy Jo Powell (1947–)<br>
Career Foreign Service Officer<br>
State of Residence: Iowa</p>

<p>Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (Uganda)<br>
Appointed: November 7, 1997<br>
Presentation of Credentials: December 4, 1997<br>
Termination of Mission: Left post on July 9, 1999<br>
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (Ghana)<br>
Appointed: July 16, 2001<br>
Presentation of Credentials: September 14, 2001<br>
Termination of Mission: Left post on May 26, 2002<br>
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (Pakistan)<br>
Appointed: August 2, 2002<br>
Presentation of Credentials: August 16, 2002<br>
Termination of Mission: Left post on November 5, 2004<br>
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (Nepal)<br>
Appointed: July 21, 2007<br>
Presentation of Credentials: August 9, 2007<br>
Termination of Mission: Left post on July 9, 2009<br>
Director General of the Foreign Service<br>
Appointed: August 3, 2009<br>
Entry on Duty: August 3, 2009<br>
Termination of Appointment: January 6, 2012<br>
Career Ambassador<br>
Appointed: January 3, 2011<br>
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (India)<br>
Appointed: April 2, 2012<br>
Presentation of Credentials: April 24, 2012<br>
Termination of Mission: Left post on May 21, 2014</p>

<p>Nancy Jo Powell, President Obama’s choice to be the next U.S. ambassador to India, has been a career member of the Foreign Service for 34 years and holds its highest rank, Career Ambassador. She has already served as ambassador to two other South Asian countries, Pakistan and Nepal, and also spent three years in India. President Obama announced his intent to nominate Powell on December 16, 2011.</p>

<p>A native of Cedar Falls, Iowa, Powell was born in 1947, and earned a B.A. in History and Teaching at the University of Northern Iowa in 1970. From 1970 to 1977, she taught Social Studies at Dayton High School in Dayton, Iowa. She joined the Foreign Service in 1977 in Washington, D.C., as a Refugee Assistance Officer, and began her focus on South Asia with her first overseas assignment as consular officer at the embassy in Kathmandu, Nepal, from 1980 to 1982. She continued as Nepal Desk Officer at the State Department from 1982 to 1984.</p>

<p>From 1985 to 1989, Powell served in Islamabad, Pakistan; and Ottawa, Canada. Posted to Africa for the first time in 1990, she served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the embassy in Lome, Togo, until 1992. She spent the next five years in South Asia, serving first as consul general at the consulate in Calcutta, India, from 1992 to 1993; as political counselor at the embassy in New Delhi, India, from 1993 to 1995; and finally as deputy chief of mission at the embassy in Dhaka, Bangladesh, from 1995 to 1997.</p>

<p>Powell’s career took an African turn when she was named ambassador to Uganda, where she served from 1997 to 1999. She then brought her expertise to bear as deputy assistant secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs from 1999 to 2001, and served as ambassador to Ghana from 2001 to 2002, which was her final African assignment. She returned to South Asia to serve as ambassador to Pakistan from 2002 to 2004.</p>

<p>Powell then took four straight stateside assignments, including principal deputy assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs from 2004 to 2005 and acting assistant secretary for the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Bureau in 2005. From 2006 to 2007, she served as the State Department’s Senior Coordinator for Avian Influenza and as National Intelligence Council Officer for South Asia. She returned to Nepal to serve as ambassador from August 2007 to August 2009. Back in Washington, Powell served as director general of the Foreign Service and director of Human Resources, from August 3, 2009 to December 2011.</p>

<p>Powell has studied French, Nepali, Hindi, and Urdu.</p>

<p>Nancy Jo Powell (born 1947, Cedar Falls, Iowa) was the United States Ambassador to India from April 2012 to May 2014.</p>

<p>Powell was Director General of the United States Foreign Service, a position she assumed after serving as the U.S. Ambassador to Nepal. Powell is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. Ambassador Powell joined the United States Foreign Service in 1977, and has held assignments in Africa and South Asia.</p>

<p>Media reports alleged that Nancy Powell resignation was inevitable after the officials of the Government of India stopped accepting to meet her.</p>

<p>Her posts in the foreign service included:<br>
<ul>
<li>United States Ambassador to India, 2012-2014</li>
<li>Director General of the United States Foreign Service, 2009-2012</li>
<li>Ambassador to Nepal, July 16, 2007 – 2009</li>
<li>National Intelligence Officer for South Asia, National Intelligence Council, 2006–2007</li>
<li>Senior Coordinator for Avian Influenza and Infectious Diseases, 2006 (?)</li>
<li>Acting Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, March 14 – November 25, 2005</li>
<li>Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs, November 2004 – March 2005</li>
<li>Ambassador to Pakistan, August 9, 2002 – October 2004</li>
<li>Ambassador to Ghana, August 14, 2001 – May 2002</li>
<li>Acting Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, January 2001 – June 2001</li>
<li>Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, July 1999 – January 2001</li>
<li>Ambassador to Uganda, 1997–1999</li>
<li>Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1995–1997</li>
<li>Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India, 1993–1995</li>
<li>Consul General in Calcutta, India, 1992–1993</li>
<li>Deputy Chief of Mission in Lome, Togo, 1990–1992</li></p>

<p>Other overseas assignments have included Islamabad, Pakistan; Kathmandu, Nepal; and Ottawa, Canada; and previous Washington assignments were those of Nepal Desk Officer and Refugee Assistance Officer.</p>