Monday, May 7th, 2001 The Pierre Hotel, New York City

Hon. R. Nicholas Burns
United States Ambassador to Greece

R. Nicholas Burns is United States Ambassador to Greece. Appointed by President Clinton, he was sworn into office by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on November 10, 1997. As Ambassador, he oversees all U.S. government programs at the U.S. Embassy in Athens, the Consulate General in Thessaloniki, and at other locations in Greece.

Prior to his current assignment, Ambassador Burns was Spokesman of the Department of State and Acting Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs for Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Secretary Madeleine Albright from 1995 to 1997. In this position, he gave daily press conference on U.S. foreign policy issues, accompanied both secretaries of State on all their foreign trips and coordinated all of the Department's public outreach programs.

Mr. Burns a career Senior Foreign Service Officer, served for five years (1990-1995) on the National Security Council staff at the White House. He was Special Assistant to President Clinton and Senior Director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia Affairs. He had lead responsibility in the White House for advising the President and the National Security Advisor on all aspects of U.S. relations with the fifteen countries of the former Soviet Union.

Under President Bush, he was Director for Soviet (and then Russian) Affairs. During this time, he attended all U.S.- Soviet summits and numerous other international meetings and specialized on economic assistance issues, U.S. ties with Russia and Ukraine and relations with the Baltic countries. He also served as President Bush's advisor on Greece, Turkey and Cyprus and accompanied the President on his State visits to Greece and Turkey in 1991.

Prior to his service on the National Security Staff, Mr. Burns worked in a series of positions at the Department of State from 1982 to 1990. He was Special Assistant to the Counselor of the Department of State from 1989-1990, responsible for Soviet and Eastern European Affairs. He was a member of the Department's Transition Team in 1988, and served as Staff Officer in the Department's Operations Center and Secretariat in 1987-1988.

Mr. Burns began his Foreign Service career in Africa and the Middle East. He was an intern at the U.S. Embassy in Nouakchott, Mauritania, Vice Consul and Staff Assistant to the Ambassador in Cairo, Egypt between 1983-1985, and then Political Officer at the American Consulate General in Jerusalem from 1985-1987. In this position, he coordinated U.S. economic assistance to the Palestinian population in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Mr. Burns has been awarded the State Department Superior Honor Award for outstanding performance three times, the Department's James Clement Dunn Award for Excellence in 1994, and in 2000 the Charles E. Cobb Award for trade development by an Ambassador. He was also awarded the Order of the Terra Mariana by Estonian President Meri for his work in securing withdrawal of Russian military forces from that country.

Mr. Burns was born on January 28, 1956, in Buffalo, New York. Raised in Massachusetts, he earned the Certificat Pratique de Langue Francaise from the University of Paris (Sorbonne) in 1977. He subsequently earned a B.S. in European History from Boston College in 1978, graduated Summa Cum Laude and was elected Phi Beta Kappa. He then received an M.A. with distinction from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in 1980 in International Economics and American Foreign Policy. He has received honorary doctorates from five American universities. He was named Communicator of the Year by the National Association of Government Communicators in 1997.

Before entering the Foreign Service, Mr. Burns worked as a Program Officer for A.T. International, a non-profit organization specializing in economic assistance for Third World Countries.

Mr. Burns is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the International Institute for Strategic studies and the Order of St. John. He speaks French, Arabic and Greek. He and his wife, Elizabeth Baylies, have three daughters.