Washington - US President Barack Obama will nominate career diplomat
Charles A Ray to be the next ambassador to Zimbabwe, succeeding James
McGee, who will leave the post early next month, the White House
announced Thursday. Ray served as US ambassador to Cambodia from 2002
to 2005. A member of the State Department Foreign Service since 1983,
following his retirement from the US Army a year earlier with the rank
of major, he has been posted to China, Thailand and Vietnam. The
African-American diplomat served as deputy chief of mission in Sierra
Leone. Since 2006 Ray has been deputy assistant secretary of defense
for prisoners of war and missing personnel affairs. According to Ray's
Web page on the Helium site for writers, he has published two books:
"Things I Learned From My Grandmother About Leadership and Life," in
June 2008, and "Taking Charge: Effective Leadership for the
Twenty-First Century," in March 2009.
AMBASSADOR CHARLES A. RAY
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense
for
Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Affairs
|
D E P A R T M E N
T O F D E F E N S E |
Charles A. Ray was appointed Deputy Assistant
Secretary of Defense for POW/Missing
Personnel Affairs in September 2006. Ambassador Ray is responsible to
the Secretary of Defense for policy, control and oversight of all
matters pertaining to missing personnel, and for establishing uniform
policies and procedures leading to the fullest possible accounting of
Americans missing in action from all conflicts. This mission includes
the rescue of individuals who fall in harm’s way as a result of
combat.
Ambassador Ray
was confirmed by the White House in 2002 and sworn-in by former
Secretary of State Colin Powell as the United States Ambassador to the
Kingdom of Cambodia, where he served until 2005. More recently he has
served as diplomat in residence at the University of Houston. While
there, he recruited students interested in careers in the U.S. Foreign
Service or the State Department, and he worked with secondary school
systems, civic organizations and other groups to inform communities
about foreign service.
Ambassador
Ray joined the Department of State in 1982 and held several positions
such as deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Freetown, Sierra
Leone. He also served in the Department of State Political Military
Affairs Bureau, and worked in the U.S. Consulate General Offices in
Guangzhou and Shenyang, China. In 1998 he became the first U.S. Consul
General in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. During his 20-plus year career
in the Department of State, Ambassador Ray worked with kings,
presidents, soldiers and human rights activists on a variety of issues.
Prior to entering
the Department of State, Ambassador Ray served in the United States
Army for twenty years. He retired with the rank of Major in 1982.
He received two Bronze Star medals from the Army and
the Armed Forces Humanitarian Service Award.
Ambassador Ray obtained his undergraduate
degree at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, and
received his Masters of Science degree at the University of Southern
California in Los Angeles. He also received his Masters of Science
degree from the National Defense University in Washington D.C.
Ambassador Ray is a native of Center, Texas. He and
his wife, Myung Wook, have two sons and two daughters.
