Joey R. Hood is an American diplomat who is the

United States ambassador to Tunisia The following is a list of United States ambassadors to Tunisia. History: US Consul in Tunis * 1795–1796: Joseph Donaldson Jr. (Consul in Algiers) * 1795–1797: Samuel D. Heap (acting consul) * 1796–1797: Joseph Étienne Famin (French, ...

Early life and education

Hood earned a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

and a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree from

The Fletcher School at Tufts University The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy is the graduate school of international affairs of Tufts University, in Medford, Massachusetts. The School is one of America's oldest graduate schools of international relations and is well-ranked in it ...

Career

Prior to his career in foreign service, Hood was a

Fulbright scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...

, and worked at a bank in Vermont. He became a Pickering Fellow in 1998, being one of the first three to reach the rank of

Senior Foreign Service The Senior Foreign Service (SFS) comprises the top four ranks of the United States Foreign Service. These ranks were created by the Foreign Service Act of 1980 and Executive Order 12293 in order to provide the Foreign Service with senior grades equ ...

. He is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor. Throughout his career, he served in leadership positions overseas as the

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 ...

and deputy chief of mission of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, the deputy chief of mission of the U.S. Embassy in

Kuwait City Kuwait City ( ar, مدينة الكويت) is the capital and largest city of Kuwait. Located at the heart of the country on the south shore of Kuwait Bay on the Persian Gulf, it is the political, cultural and economical centre of the emirate, ...

, Kuwait, and the principal officer of the U.S. Consulate General in Dhahran,

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. In addition, he has served as the deputy director and the acting director of the Office of Iranian Affairs in the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, as the public affairs officer of the U.S. Embassy in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

, and as the political-economic section chief of the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa,

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

. From January to September 2021, he served as principal deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and was the acting assistant secretary of the bureau.

U.S. ambassador to Tunisia

On May 20, 2022, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Hood to be the next

. On May 24, 2022, his nomination was sent to the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. Hearings on his nomination were held before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on July 27, 2022. His nomination was favorably reported by the committee on December 7, 2022. The Senate confirmed Hood in a voice vote on December 21, 2022. He presented his credentials to President Kais Saied on February 2, 2023.

Personal life

Hood speaks

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

and

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 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hood, Joey R. Living people 21st-century American diplomats Dartmouth College alumni The Fletcher School at Tufts University alumni United States Foreign Service personnel United States Department of State officials Year of birth missing (living people)