Gene Allan Cretz (born April 20, 1950) is a career diplomat who retired from the Senior Foreign Service in 2015. Before retiring, he was the U.S. Ambassador to Ghana.
Early life
Cretz was born in
Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...
, and attended Albany High School, graduating with the class of 1968. He subsequently taught there from 1977 to 1979. He received a bachelor's degree in English literature from the
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees.
The University of Roc ...
Gene Cretz previously served in key diplomatic posts in
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
,
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
and
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
. In addition to these postings, he has also been stationed in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, and in Washington D.C. Cretz was Christopher Stevens' immediate predecessor as U.S. Ambassador to Libya. Prior to assuming his post in Libya, he was a
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs
The Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs is the head of the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs within the United States Department of State. The Assistant Secretary guides the operation of the U.S. diplomatic establishment in variou ...
.
Before this, he was the first U.S. Ambassador to Libya since 1972, after being nominated in July 2007 by President Bush. His nomination was confirmed by the US Senate on November 21, 2008. He was sworn-in as U.S. Ambassador to Libya by Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist who is the current director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as the 66th Uni ...
on December 17, 2008, at the
State Department
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...
. He arrived in Libya on December 27, 2008. Cretz speaks several languages, including
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
,
Dari
Dari (, , ), also known as Dari Persian (, ), is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the term officially recognised and promoted since 1964 by the Afghan government for the Persian language,Lazard, G.Darī ...
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
. President Barack Obama nominated him for the post to Ghana in April 2012. He was sworn-in as the U.S. Ambassador to Ghana by Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States senat ...
on September 11, 2012. He presented his credentials on October 8, 2012, and served until June 26, 2015.
From 2015 to 2019, Mr. Cretz was one of two representatives for the Director of the Multinational Force & Observers (MFO). During this assignment, he resided in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Ambassador Cretz returned to the Washington, DC, area in 2019.
Personal life
He is married to the former Annette Williams and the couple has two adult children, Jeffrey and Gabrielle. His son is a commissioned officer in the Air National Guard in the greater Philadelphia area and his daughter is a consultant in Miami, Florida.
See also
*
Foreign relations of Libya
The foreign relations of Libya were largely reset at the end of the Libyan Civil War, with the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi and the Second Libyan Civil War. The current Minister of Foreign Affairs Since 15 March 2021 is Najla Mangoush Althoug ...