Campbell, Martha Larzelere, 1949-

Martha Larzelere Campbell (born 1949) is a retired American Career Foreign Service Officer who served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Marshall Islands from 2009 until 2012.

Born Martha Larzelere, Campbell grew up in East Lansing, Michigan, where her father was a professor at Michigan State University. She received her B.A. in history from Kalamazoo College in 1972 and went on to earn her M.A. in modern European history from the University of Notre Dame the following year.

Campbell was a member of the Department of State’s Foreign Service for over three decades. After joining in 1980, Campbell served as Management Officer at US embassies in The Hague, Stockholm, Budapest, Majuro and Paramaribo, Suriname. She was also a consular officer in Rotterdam and Chief of the Political/Economic Section on a second tour in Paramaribo. In Washington, Campbell served in the Executive Office of the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, as a Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for Management and as a Career Development Officer. After the US signed the Compact of Free Association, Campbell opened the first diplomatic post in Majuro in the Marshall Islands in 1987.

Just prior to her ambassadorship, Campbell served as the Dean of the School of Professional and Area Studies at the Foreign Service Institute. Her responsibility was to train State Department and interagency employees in support of foreign policy assignments around the world. Campbell’s husband, Arnold Campbell, also had a career in the US Department of State as a Foreign Service Officer, and is now retired.