Feature Stories
John R. Beyrle, '75
John R. Beyrle is United States Ambassador to the Russian
Federation. He arrived in Moscow to take up his posting in July 2008,
and presented credentials to President Dmitriy Medvedev September 13,
2008.
A career officer in the Senior Foreign Service at the
rank of Minister-Counselor, Ambassador Beyrle has held policy
positions and foreign assignments with an emphasis on U.S. relations
with Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and the USSR since joining
the State Department in 1983.
Ambassador Beyrle’s overseas
service has included two previous tours at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow,
including as Deputy Chief of Mission. Most recently he served as
Ambassador to Bulgaria from 2005-08. Other overseas assignments
include Counselor for Political and Economic Affairs at the U.S.
Embassy in the Czech Republic, and member of the U.S. Delegation to
the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty negotiations in Vienna.
Washington assignments include Acting Special Adviser to the Secretary
of State for the New Independent States, and Director for Russian,
Ukrainian and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council. He
served as a staff officer to Secretaries of State George Shultz and
James Baker, and as a Pearson Fellow and foreign policy adviser to the
late Senator Paul Simon.
Ambassador Beyrle is the recipient
of the Presidential Meritorious Service Award, and the Baker-Wilkins
Award as the State Department’s Outstanding Deputy Chief of Mission.
He has been awarded the State Department’s Superior Honor Award for
outstanding performance four times. In 2008, he was awarded a doctoral
degree honoris causa by the American University in Bulgaria, and was
presented the order of Stara Planina, Bulgaria’s highest state
award.
A native of Muskegon, Michigan, Ambassador Beyrle
received a Bachelor of Arts in French with honors from Grand Valley
State Colleges in 1975, and a master’s degree as a Distinguished
Graduate of the National War College, where he later taught as a
Visiting Professor of National Security Studies. His foreign languages
are Bulgarian, Czech, French, German and Russian.
Beyrle is
married to Jocelyn Greene, a fellow Foreign Service Officer. They have
two daughters, Alison and Caroline.
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