Rowe, Leslie Ventura, 1947-

Leslie V. Rowe (born 1947) is a retired career diplomat who served as the U.S. Ambassador to Mozambique (2010-2012) as well as Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu (2006-2009). Previously, she was Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.

She began her career as director of the International Office at Tufts University and has been a foreign language teacher at high schools. She speaks English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish.

In 1983, she became a member of the Foreign Service and later became member of the Senior Foreign Service. From 1984 to 1986, she worked as a consular officer in Sao Paulo, Brazil and as Deputy Consul General at the US Embassy in San Jose, Costa Rica two years later. In 1988, she served as a Principal Officer of the US Consulate in Recife, Brazil. She was Country Desk Officer for Chile in 1992; and one year later, she was positioned in the Human Resources Office. From 1994 to 1996, she was the Director of the State Department’s Office of Children’s Issues. In 1996, she became the Consul General in Lisbon, Portugal. Four years later, she was positioned as a Consul General in Bangkok, Thailand.

In 2003, Rowe served as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the American Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. From October 15, 2006 to July 11, 2009, Rowe was the US Ambassador to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu, residing at Port Moresby. She was nominated to be the US Ambassador to Mozambique on September 12, 2009, appointed on December 29 and began her second ambassadorship on March 1, 2010. She left this post on March 1, 2012.

In January 2013, she joined the new U.S. Office of Global Health Diplomacy as Deputy Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy. By the end of 2013, she was serving as Acting Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy. She retired in 2014.