13 Going on 14 — GFM: https://gofund.me/32671a27
On June 15, President Biden announced his intent to nominate Troy Damian Fitrell to be the next U.S. Ambassador to Guinea. The WH released the following brief bio:
Troy Damian Fitrell, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Guinea
Troy Fitrell, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Counselor, is the Director of the Office of West African Affairs at the Department of State. He has served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. embassies in Ethiopia and Mauritius, as Deputy Director of the Department’s Office of Southern African Affairs, and as Deputy Director of the Office of International Security Cooperation in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. He was Senior Advisor to the United States Special Envoy for the Great Lakes of Africa, coordinating U.S. policy on the cross-border security, political, and economic issues in the Great Lakes region. Fitrell served as a Pearson Fellow on the staff of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and was a Watch Officer in the Department’s Nuclear Risk Reduction Center. He also served overseas at the U.S. embassies in Portugal, Guatemala, Zambia, Ghana and Denmark. Fitrell earned a B.A. at the University of Maryland and an M.S. at the National War College. He speaks French, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish and Danish.
If confirmed, Mr. Fitrell would succeed Ambassador Simon Henshaw who served from March 4, 2019 until June 9, 2020 when Ambassador Henshaw passed away at post (see US Embassy Conakry Announces the Passing of Ambassador Simon Henshaw in Guinea).
Guinea is one of those places where political appointees are not breaking the doors to get to. Since 1960, only three (14.3%) noncareer appointees served at the US Embassy in Conakry; all their tenures occurred between 1959 to 1965. Of the 21 appointees since 1960, 18 have been career diplomats.
#Washington_DC🇺🇸, 14/08/19
Déjeuner de travail entre Mr Troy Damian Fitrell, Directeur Afrique de l’Ouest au @StateDept et SEM @MahamadouNimaga , Amb. du Mali🇲🇱 aux USA🇺🇸 ainsi que ceux du #Cap_Vert🇨🇻, du #Burkina_Faso🇧🇫 et de #Mauritanie🇲🇷.
Les détails:https://t.co/pnU8gBpumV pic.twitter.com/TPiUsCxhPL
— Mali Embassy – USA 🇲🇱🇺🇸 (@MaliEmbassyUSA) August 15, 2019
@USEmbassyAddis Deputy Chief of Mission, Mr. Troy Fitrell accompanied by Regional PRM & Refugee Coordinator Mr. Nathan Lane visited @IOMEthiopia Transit Center and got the chance to interact with #Ethiopian returnees from Malawi awaiting family reunification. pic.twitter.com/cWr3F28Oj0
— IOM Ethiopia (@IOMEthiopia) December 5, 2017