Nancy McEldowney U.S. Ambassador-Designate

Nancy McEldowney

U.S. Ambassador-Designate to Bulgaria

Ambassador-Designate Nancy McEldowney was confirmed by the Senate on April 29, 2008, to be the next U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria.  She previously served as the Deputy Chief Mission in Ankara, Turkey, from June 2005 to March 2008.  Prior to that, she served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan.  In her most recent Washington assignment, Ambassador-Designate McEldowney served at the White House as Director of European Affairs on the National Security Council.
 
Ambassador-Designate McEldowney has also served overseas at the U.S. Embassies in Cairo, Egypt and Bonn, Germany.  In addition, she was a member of the U.S. Delegation to the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks with the Soviet Union in Geneva, Switzerland.
 
Within the Department of State, Ambassador-Designate McEldowney has worked in the Office of Soviet Affairs, the Office of European Security Affairs, the Front Office of the European Bureau and the Office of the Deputy Secretary.  She has also served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon.
 
Ambassador-Designate McEldowney completed her undergraduate studies at New College and holds graduate degrees from Columbia University and the National Defense University.
 
Ambassador-Designate McEldowney has been granted the State Department’s Superior Honor Award on four occasions.  She is also a recipient of the Sinclair Linguistic Award and the National War College’s Distinguished Writing Award.
 
Ambassador-Designate McEldowney is a member of the Senior Foreign Service.  She is a native of Florida, is married to Tim Hayes, a retired Air Force pilot, and they have two daughters, Jessica and Alyssa.

She is expected to arrive in Bulgaria in August.