Thomas Thomas Riley was the
United States Ambassador to Morocco
This is a list of ambassadors of the United States to Morocco. Morocco was the first country to recognize the United States of America in 1777. Regular diplomatic relations were established in 1905. In 1912 Morocco came under the control of France ...
for 5 years. He was sworn in on December 21, 2003, and arrived at his post in January 2004. King Mohammed VI awarded Ambassador Riley the "Grand Croix du Ordre du Ouissam El Alaouite"
(Grand Cross of the Order of Ouissam Alaouite). In January 2009 following the inauguration of a new President, all Ambassadors automatically tender their resignations. Ambassador Riley was selected as the recipient of the State Department's 2009 Sue M. Cobb Award for Exemplary Diplomatic Service, the only award given by the State Department to a political-appointee Ambassador. Thomas Riley was Senior VP and Managing Director International for Savvis, Inc. until 2011. He then joined BrightSource Energy, an Oakland, California-based global provider of utility scale solar technology, as senior adviser for International business development.
Early life
Riley was born in
San Mateo, California. After receiving his BS in
Industrial Engineering
Industrial engineering is an engineering profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information a ...
from
Stanford University, he worked as an engineer at
Boeing
The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...
for one year. Riley then attended
Harvard Business School where he received his
MBA
A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...
, and then went on to work at
TRW Mission in London and Paris.
He returned to the US after 4 years and cofounded a company selling construction equipment to East Africa (Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti, Sudan). In 1984, he began an almost 20-year career in
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Coun ...
, as Product Manager for an advanced electric utility meter at
Robinton Products; as president of
Unity Systems, manufacturer of an automated home and building control system; as founder and president of
Web State, an online training company; and as president of
ActivePhoto, an online digital image service.
Riley is the holder of United States
Patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...
5303767 for an
energy management system
An energy management system (EMS) is a system of computer-aided tools used by operators of electric utility grids to monitor, control, and optimize the performance of the generation or transmission system. Also, it can be used in small scale syste ...
.
Riley is married to Nancy Vieira da Rosa Riley, a former tax attorney and author of the children's book "Moroccan Mystery".
References
External links
United States Patent 5303767San Francisco Chronicle article “Our Man in Morocco”State Magazine (p.20) - Sue M. Cobb Award for Exemplary Diplomatic Service
Living people
Ambassadors of the United States to Morocco
Stanford University alumni
Harvard Business School alumni
People from San Mateo, California
Year of birth missing (living people)
{{US-diplomat-stub