On March 16, President Obama announced his intent to nominate Mark L. Asquino as the next Ambassador to the Republic of Equatorial Guinea. The WH released the following brief bio:

Mark L. Asquino, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister Counselor, currently serves as the Executive Assistant in the Office of the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights at the U.S. Department of State.  From 2010 to 2011, he served as a Senior Public Diplomacy Fellow at George Washington University.  Previously, he served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Sudan and at the U.S. Embassy in Kazakhstan.   Mr. Asquino has also served overseas in Caracas, Panama City, Madrid, Bucharest, Santiago, and Tashkent.  In Washington, he has served as the Principal Deputy Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization at the U.S. Department of State.

Mr. Asquino received his A.B. and Ph.D. in American Civilization from Brown University.

Mark Asquino, then Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Khartoum during a ribbon-cutting ceremony (Photo from US Embassy Sudan/Picasa)

If confirmed, Mr. Asquino would succeed career diplomat, Alberto M. Fernandez who was appointed to the US Embassy in Malabo in January 2010. On March 26, Ambassador Fernandez assumed the position of Coordinator of the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications (CSCC), a new inter-agency entity based at the State Department.

Related item:

President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts | March 16, 2012

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