Haiti

Paul Altidor became ambassador of Haiti to the United States on May 2, 2012 having previously served as vice president at the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund in Washington, D.C.

Ambassador Altidor has an extensive private sector background. As a management consultant, he counseled firms in various countries on corporate governance and responsibility. In the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake, Ambassador Altidor led a team of professors and researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Community Innovators Lab to Haiti to provide guidance on housing policy and financing. Prior to the 2010 earthquake, Ambassador Altidor worked at the International Finance Corporation, where he advised governments on infrastructure projects and public-private partnerships. He has also worked for the World Bank and taught at Ecole Supérieure Catholique de Droit de Jérémie, a law school in his native town of Jérémie.

Ambassador Altidor received his undergraduate degree from Boston College, an advanced degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and also pursued graduate studies in law and economics at the University of Paris in France.

Kosovo

Akan Ismaili became ambassador of Kosovo to the United States on May 2, 2012.

A former telecommunications entrepreneur and chief executive officer, Ambassador Ismaili co-founded Internet Project Kosovo (IPKO), a nonprofit dedicated to promoting the use of information and communications technology as a tool to foster rebuilding and development in Kosovo after the NATO campaign ended in 1999. IPKO has been credited with bringing the Internet to Kosovo. In 2001, IPKO split into two entities: IPKOnet and IPKO Institute, and Ambassador Ismaili served as the CEO of IPKOnet, a company that expanded access to broadband, mobile, fixed telephone and television in Kosovo. Over his 10-year tenure, IPKO became a modern enterprise and is now recognized as one of the fastest-growing telecommunications companies in Europe and a pillar of the new economy in Kosovo. During the same time, Ambassador Ismaili founded the American University Foundation in Kosovo, which draws support from Kosovar citizens and its Diaspora to establish an American-style higher education institution in Kosovo. To date, the foundation has raised more than $8 million, which it has used for programs in conjunction with New York’s Rochester Institute of Technology. Prior to the war, Ambassador Ismaili managed IT infrastructure for the U.S. diplomatic office in Pristina, serving as a translator for U.S. diplomats when the war started. Just before the NATO bombing campaign began, Ambassador Ismaili was evacuated to Vienna, where he led a team of four people tasked with translating and distributing U.S. government news articles to the Albanian-language media in the region and at refugee camps.

Ambassador Ismaili studied computer science in Pristina until 1994, when he set up the city’s first e-mail server, which played a central role in helping the opposition organize against the old regime. His work has been featured by the Advocacy Project, WIRED and the New York Times.

Liberia

Jeremiah Congbeh Sulunteh became ambassador of Liberia to the United States on May 2, 2012.

Since 2006, Ambassador Sulunteh has held several Cabinet positions under President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, including minister of transport and then minister of labor, transport and post and telecommunication. Following his first appointment as transport minister, Ambassador Sulunteh undertook a project to build an elementary and junior high school in his hometown of Gboimu to ensure that children would not have to walk, as he had done, three miles every morning to attend school in neighboring Gbondoi. In addition, Ambassador Sulunteh taught economic development at the Graduate School of Cuttington University, his alma mater, and public finance administration at the nation’s oldest institution of higher learning, the University of Liberia. His writings include “Public Sector Deficits and Macroeconomic Performance: Adjustment, Reform and Growth, the Case of Ghana” (2000); “Sustainable African Economic Development: the Role of the IMF” (1999); “The Political Economy of African Development: A Comparative Study of Kenya and Tanzania” (1994); and “The Government Privatization Policy: A Case Study of the Liberia Electricity Corporation” (1988).

Ambassador Sulunteh holds a bachelor’s of science degree in economics from Cuttington University College (now Cuttington University), a master’s degree in public administration from the American University in Cairo, Egypt, and a master’s of arts degree in economics from York University in Toronto, Canada.

He speaks and writes fluent Kpelle, his native tongue, and is married to Kabeh Sulunteh with three children.

Malaysia

Datuk Othman Hashim became ambassador of Malaysia to the United States on May 2. Prior to his current assignment, Ambassador Hashim was the permanent representative of Malaysia to the United Nations in Geneva. He has also served as Malaysia’s ambassador to the Czech Republic as well as deputy secretary-general for bilateral affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Thailand

Chaiyong Satjipanon became ambassador of Thailand to the United States on May 2, 2012.

He previously served as Thailand’s ambassador to South Korea (2010-12); ambassador to Switzerland with concurrent accreditation to Liechtenstein and the Holy See (2007-10); permanent representative to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva (2003-07); and ambassador to Indonesia with concurrent accreditation to Papua New Guinea (2001-03). He was also the consul general of the Royal Thai Consulate-General in Sydney, Australia, from 1994 to 2000. In addition, Ambassador Satjipanon has held various posts at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which he joined in 1975, including director-general of the Department of American and South Pacific Affairs and ambassador attached to the Office of the Permanent Secretary (2000-01); deputy director-general of the Department of Economic Affairs (1993-94); director of the Policy and Planning Division of the Office of the Permanent Secretary (1990-93), counselor in the Southeast Asia Division of the Department of Political Affairs (1990-93); and counselor of the Americas Division of the Department of Political Affairs (1989-90).

Ambassador Satjipanon holds a bachelor’s degree with honors and a master’s degree from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, as well as a master’s of law degree and a doctorate in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.