Barbados

Selwin Hart was appointed ambassador of Barbados to the United States on Nov. 10, 2016. He previously served as director of the U.N. Secretary-General Climate Change Support Team; climate finance advisor with the Caribbean Development Bank; and senior Foreign Service Officer/lead climate change negotiator with the Permanent Mission of Barbados to the U.N.

India

Navtej Sarna was appointed ambassador of India to the United States on Nov. 5, 2016, having previously served as India’s high commissioner to the United Kingdom since January 2016. Prior to that, he held various positions in the Ministry of External Affairs, including: (west) secretary (2014-16); special secretary to international organizations and policy (2013-14); additional secretary to international organizations and policy (2012-13); official spokesperson (2002-08); deputy secretary of the U.N. (1993-94); and deputy chief of protocol (1992-93). In addition, he was India’s ambassador to Israel (2008-12); minister/counselor at the Indian Embassy in Washington, D.C. (1998-2002); counselor at the embassy in Iran (1997-98); counselor at the Permanent Mission of India to the U.N. in Geneva (1994-97); first secretary at the Indian Embassy in Bhutan; second and first secretary at the embassy in Poland (1985-89); and third secretary at the embassy in the Soviet Union (1982-83). Ambassador Sarna, who joined the Foreign Service in 1980, holds bachelor’s of commerce and bachelor’s of law degrees from Delhi University and a diploma in journalism. He speaks English, Hindi and Punjabi, with knowledge of Russian and Polish. He is married to Dr. Avina Sarna and has one son and one daughter.

Jamaica

Audrey Marks was appointed ambassador of Jamaica to the United States and Organization of American States on Sept. 12, 2016, having previously served as Jamaica’s first female ambassador to the U.S. from 2010 to 2012. Ambassador Marks previously started and operated six businesses, including a 100-acre banana exporting farm, a transportation company and a real estate sales and development company. She also operated a venture capital company with diverse investments, including manufacturing, travel and entertainment. She is perhaps best known for having founded Paymaster (Jamaica) Ltd., an online paymaster system that she developed in 1997 that is the first multi-transaction agency in the Caribbean. Ambassador Marks has also served on several private and public sector boards, including chairman of the Central Wastewater Treatment Co. Ltd.; chair of the Tourism Product Development Co.; deputy chair of the Urban Development Corp.; director of the board of RBTT Securities Jamaica Ltd.; Jamaica Trade and Invest; National Health Fund; and the University of the West Indies (Mona School of Business). She has the distinction of being the first female president of the American Chamber of Commerce of Jamaica. Ambassador Marks holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica, and a master’s in business administration degree from Nova University in Florida. She is married to Jassel Dunstan and they have two daughters, Morgan and Madison. She enjoys playing golf, mentoring young adults and spending time with her family.

Jordan

Omar F. Masabha because first secretary/political counselor on Sept. 1, 2016.

Poland

Piotr Wilczek was appointed ambassador of Poland to the United States and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas on Oct. 21, 2016. A prolific literary scholar, intellectual historian, writer and translator, he graduated in 1986 from the University of Silesia in Katowice, where he also received his Ph.D. (1992) and habilitation post-doctoral degree (2001). Recruited by his alma mater, he remained there until 2008 as a professor and faculty dean. In 2006, he received the title of professor of the humanities from the president of Poland. In 2008, Ambassador Wilczek joined the University of Warsaw faculty at the new, experimental Artes Liberales Program, becoming the founding director of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, where he helped establish and chaired the Centre for the Study of the Reformation and Intellectual Culture in Early-Modern Europe. Since 2010, he has also been at the helm of the Artes Liberales Doctoral Studies Program. An international scholar active in Europe and the United States, Ambassador Wilczek has been promoting liberal arts education that breaks the barriers between narrow fields of specialization traditionally favored in Europe. A recipient of numerous grants and scholarships, he conducted postgraduate research in intellectual history at Oxford’s St Anne’s College in 1988 and completed two postdoctoral projects at the University of London’s Warburg Institute in 1996 and 1998. Twice, he was a visiting translator at the British Centre for Literary Translation, University of East Anglia. In the United States, Ambassador Wilczek taught Polish literature and language as a visiting professor at Rice University, the University of Illinois and the University of Chicago from 1998 to 2001. He has also given public lectures at Harvard University and the University of Texas at Austin and conducted research as a visiting scholar at Boston College and Cleveland State University. In addition, Ambassador Wilczek has authored and edited 22 published monographs and more than 100 journal articles that appeared in Poland, the U.K. and U.S., both in English and Polish. Born April 26, 1962, in Chorzów, Poland, his interests include comparative literature, philology and intellectual history that form the culture and geography of knowledge across time.