Jean Elizabeth Manes (born 1970) is an American diplomat who currently serves as the Civilian Deputy and Foreign Policy Advisor to General

Laura J. Richardson Laura Jane Richardson (born December 11, 1963) is a four-star general in the United States Army who is the commander of United States Southern Command since October 29, 2021. Prior to that, she was the commanding general of United States Army No ...

, Commander of the

United States Southern Command The United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), located in Doral, Florida, Doral, Florida in Greater Miami, is one of the eleven unified combatant commands in the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for providing contingen ...

. She is the former

United States Ambassador to El Salvador The following is a list of United States ambassadors, or other chiefs of mission, to El Salvador. The title given by the United States State Department to this position is currently ''Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary.'' Chie ...

. Manes was nominated by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

on October 21, 2015 and confirmed by the Senate on December 9, 2015. Manes is the nominee to be the next US Ambassador to Colombia.

Early life and education

Manes is a native of

Pompano Beach, Florida Pompano Beach ( ) is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. It is located along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, just north of Fort Lauderdale. The nearby Hillsboro Inlet forms part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. As of the 2020 ...

. Her parents, Roger and Betty Manes, built a family business. Manes attended Highlands Christian Academy through high school, graduating in 1988. She attended

Liberty University Liberty University (LU) is a private Baptist university in Lynchburg, Virginia. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia (Southern Baptist Convention). Founded in 1971 by Jerry Falwell Sr. and Elmer L. Towns, Liberty i ...

as an undergraduate, where she played volleyball and coached the men's club volleyball team. She earned her Bachelor's Degree in Foreign Policy there in 1992.

Career

Manes began her career in Washington, D.C. She accepted an internship with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chaired by

Claiborne Pell Claiborne de Borda Pell (November 22, 1918 – January 1, 2009) was an American politician and writer who served as a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island for six terms from 1961 to 1997. He was the sponsor of the 1972 bill that reformed the Basic ...

, and worked for the U.S. Information Agency in Washington, D.C. from 1992 to 1999. During that time, she also attended

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

, where she earned a Master's in Public Administration in 1996. Her subsequent assignments in the Foreign Service included ones at U.S. embassies in

Buenos Aires, Argentina Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

;

Montevideo, Uruguay Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

; Ponta Delgada-

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

; and Brasilia, Brazil. Manes served as Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in

Kabul, Afghanistan Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

from 2012 to 2013, and then accepted a short assignment in

Ft. Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth ...

as Deputy Director of the State Department's Florida Regional Center. She later served as Principal Deputy Coordinator at the Bureau of International Information Programs.

Tenure in El Salvador

In October 2015, President Barack Obama nominated Manes to become U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador, and she was confirmed by the Senate in December 2015. She served as ambassador until July 31, 2019. On May 26, 2021 it was announced that Manes had been designated as

Chargé d’affaires Chargé () is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. Chargé is a small town near Amboise. The Rock 'in Chargé festival has revitalized the village sinc2006 Population The inhabitants are called ''Chargéens''. See a ...

ad interim to the Republic of El Salvador. She left the post in November 2021 after indicating that she believed the government of El Salvador was not interested in relations with the United States.

Ambassador to Colombia

On January 3, 2023, President Joe Biden nominated Manes to be the ambassador to

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. Her nomination is pending before the

Senate Foreign Relations Committee The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a standing committee of the U.S. Senate charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. It is generally responsible for overseeing and funding foreign aid pro ...

Personal life

Manes is married to Héctor R. Cerpa, from

Salto, Uruguay Salto () is the capital city of the Salto Department in northwestern Uruguay. As of the 2011 census it had a population of 104,028 and is the third most populated city in Uruguay, after Montevideo and Ciudad de la Costa. Location and geography Th ...

, and they have two daughters. In addition to English, Manes speaks Spanish and Portuguese. She is of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

and

Choctaw The Choctaw (in the Choctaw language, Chahta) are a Native American people originally based in the Southeastern Woodlands, in what is now Alabama and Mississippi. Their Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choctaw people are ...

descent.Remarks by Ambassador Jean Manes- Swearing In Ceremony, Washington DC.
Embassy of the U.S. El Salvador, March 17, 2016

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manes, Jean Elizabeth 1970 births Living people Ambassadors of the United States to El Salvador Liberty University alumni American University School of Public Affairs alumni Obama administration personnel American women ambassadors American people of Choctaw descent American people of German descent 21st-century American women