Young, Andrew Robert, 1961-

<p>Andrew Young, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, was confirmed by the Senate on September 28, 2016 as the next U.S. Ambassador to Burkina Faso. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Young served as Deputy Chief of Mission at U.S. Embassy Bamako, Mali, where the Embassy’s inter-agency team addressed a wide range of challenges including securing a 2015 Peace Accord, confronting multiple terrorist attacks and successfully countering Ebola outbreaks. On November 16, 2016 Andrew Young received the James A. Baker Award for Outstanding Deputy Chief of Mission.</p>

<p>Previously, Mr. Young served as Spokesperson at U.S. Embassy Seoul, Korea (2010-2013), Political Counselor at U.S. Embassy Paris, France (2007-2010), and Desk Officer for Italy in the Bureau of European Affairs at the Department of State (2005-2007). He also served as Foreign Policy Advisor to Senator Joe Lieberman (2004-2005), Senior Watch Officer in the Department’s Operations Center (2003-2004), and Deputy Principal Officer at U.S. Consulate Auckland, New Zealand (2000-2003). Mr. Young served as Political Officer at U.S. Embassy Rangoon, Burma (1997-2000), Political Economic Section Chief at U.S. Consulate General Bombay, India (1995-1997), and India and Bhutan Desk Officer in the Bureau of South Asian Affairs at the Department of State (1993-1995). He began his Foreign Service career in 1991 as Consular Officer at U.S. Consulate General Hong Kong. Prior to joining the State Department, Mr. Young served as a Presidential Management Fellow at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the United States Department of Commerce.</p>

<p>Mr. Young earned an A.B. from the University of California Berkeley (ΦΒΚ) and an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Bologna, Italy and Washington, D.C. In 2015, he received the American Foreign Service Association’s first Mark Palmer Award for the Advancement of Democracy for his work in Burma, on Capitol Hill and in Mali to promote democracy.</p>

<p>Andrew Young, a career member of the Foreign Service, was confirmed by the Senate on September 28, 2016 as the U.S. ambassador to Burkina Faso. It’s Young’s first such position.</p>

<p>Young was born April 18, 1961, in Downey, California. He attended UC Berkeley, graduating with a B.A. in 1985. He also earned a political science certificate from Institut d’études politiques d’Aix-en-Provence. Early jobs included being an interpreter for the U.S. Olympic Committee for the 1984 Games, a researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington and as an intern in the U.S. embassy in Bangui, Central African Republic, in 1987. Young returned to school, earning an M.A. at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in 1988.</p>

<p>He then took a job as an interpreter for the State Department and moved on to the Commerce Department as a desk officer and economist for the Central Africa Region. He also worked briefly as an underwriter for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation before joining the Foreign Service in 1991.</p>

<p>Young’s first assignment was as a consular officer in Hong Kong. He returned to Washington in 1993 as the desk officer on the India and Bhutan Desk in the Bureau of South Asian Affairs. Young put that experience to use beginning in 1995 when he was made political and economic section chief in the U.S. consulate in Bombay, India. Two years later, he was a political officer in the embassy in Rangoon, Burma, and beginning in 2000 he served as the deputy principal officer in the consulate in Auckland, New Zealand.</p>

<p>Young came home in 2003 to serve as senior watch officer in the State Department Operations Center. The following year, he began a stint as foreign policy adviser to Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut). In 2005, he was made desk officer for Italy and San Marino in the State Department’s Bureau of European Affairs, then in 2007 was sent to Paris as political counselor in the embassy there.</p>

<p>Young went to Seoul, South Korea in 2010 as an information officer in the embassy and as a Korean language student. In 2013, he was made deputy chief of mission in the embassy in Bamako, Mali, a post he held until going to Burkina Faso.</p>

<p>Young’s wife, Margaret, is also a Foreign Service officer. They have two college-age children, Nathan and Claire. Young speaks French, Italian and Korean.</p>

<Andrew Robert Young (born April 18, 1961) is an American diplomat who has served as United States Ambassador to Burkina Faso since 2016.</p>

<p>He attended University of California Berkeley and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He was confirmed as ambassador on September 28, 2016 and succeeded Tulinabo S. Mushingi.</p>

<p>Young's first posting after joining the U.S. Foreign Service in 1991 was as a consular officer in Hong Kong. He then transferred to Washington, D.C. in 1993 to work at the India and Bhutan Desk in the Bureau of South Asian Affairs. In 1995, Young was made political and economic section chief in Bombay, India, and two years later was assigned to the post of political officer in Rangoon, Myanmar.</p>

<p>From 2000 to 2003 Young served as deputy principal officer in Auckland, New Zealand, after which he was the foreign policy adviser to Senator Joe Lieberman. He returned to foreign service work in 2005 when he was given an assignment in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at the Italy and San Marino Desk, and in 2007 he was sent to be political officer in the Paris, France consulate.</p>

<p>In 2010, Young was sent to serve as the information officer for the Seoul embassy where he learned to speak Korean, and from 2013 until his appointment to ambassador in 2016, Young worked as deputy chief of mission in Bamako, Mali.</p>

<p>In March 2020, he became the first American ambassador to be diagnosed with Covid-19, as a part of the COVID-19 pandemic in Burkina Faso.</p>