William John Garvelink (born May 22, 1949) is an American diplomat and former
United States Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo by
George W. Bush on May 30, 2007, and sworn in on October 22, 2007.
Biography
Early life and education
Garvelink was born in
Holland, Michigan, and graduated from
Calvin College
Calvin University, formerly Calvin College, is a private Christian university in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Founded in 1876, Calvin University is an educational institution of the Christian Reformed Church and stands in the Reformed (Calvinist) ...
(B.A.) in 1971 and the
University of Minnesota (M.A.); along with post-graduate studies at the
University of North Carolina in Latin American history, but ran out of money before earning his Ph.D. Garvelink joined the
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in 1979.
Career
Before he joined AID, Garvelink was a professional staff member of the Subcommittee on International Organizations and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the
U.S. House of Representatives. Garvelink's responsibilities included oversight of USAID’s worldwide humanitarian assistance and democracy programs. Offices within the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance include the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, Office of Transition Initiatives, Office of Food for Peace, Office of Democracy and Governance, Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation and the Office of Private and Voluntary Cooperation. He is a Minister Counselor of the Senior Foreign Service.
Prior to his appointment as ambassador, Garvelink served since 1999 as the USAID Mission Director in
Eritrea
Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...
. He administered a development and relief program worth more than $55 million US dollars.
Garvelink has received six Performance Awards, two Meritorious Honor Awards, a
Superior Honor Award
The Superior Honor Award is an award of the United States Department of State. Similar versions of the same award exist for the former U.S. Information Agency, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, and USAID. It is presented to groups or individ ...
, and a Senior Foreign Service Presidential Meritorious Service Award over his service with the
U.S. Department of State.
In 1988 until 1999 Garvelink served in Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), first as the Assistant Director for Response and then as the Deputy Director. While in OFDA, he directed relief operations in
Africa,
Asia,
Latin America, the
Near East
The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...
,
Europe and in the former
Soviet Union. Garvelink led many Disaster Assistance Response Teams, or DARTs, to parts of
Albania,
Armenia,
Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
,
Iraq,
Kenya,
Rwanda
Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...
,
Somalia and
Iran. He chaired the USAID Task Force for the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, the Task Force for the Pakistani Earthquake and the Lebanese Task Force.
Prior to his work in the OFDA, Garvelink served for two years in the Department of State’s Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration with responsibilities for much of southern Africa. He was appointed for four years in
Bolivia
, image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg
, flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center
, flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
for USAID and served for three years as a staff member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Personal life
Garvelink is married to Linda A. Garvelink, whom he met in high school, and is a banking industry specialist.
Published works
Garvelink has written many published works, including:
*''Humanitarian Assistance Intervention in Complex Emergencies: Information Requirements in the 1990s''*
*''Complex Emergencies in Africa in the 1990s: The Role of Technology''*
*''Special Report: United States Response to the Earthquake in Bam, Iran''*
*edited by Jim Whitman and David Pocock, St. Martin's Press, Inc., 1996
*in Meeting the Challenge of International Peace Operations: Assessing the Contribution of Technology, edited by Alex Gliksman (proceedings of a conference sponsored by the Center for Global Security Research, June 1998 and held in Livermore, California September 9–10, 1996)
*in The Liaison (Journal of Civil-Military Humanitarian Relief Collaboration), Volume 3, Number 2, 2004
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garvelink, William J.
Ambassadors of the United States to the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Calvin University alumni
University of Minnesota alumni
Living people
1949 births
United States Foreign Service personnel