Nicholas Alexander Veliotes (born October 28, 1928) is a former United States

Foreign Service Officer A Foreign Service Officer (FSO) is a commissioned member of the United States Foreign Service. Foreign Service Officers formulate and implement the foreign policy of the United States. FSOs spend most of their careers overseas as members of U ...

and diplomat. He served as

United States Ambassador to Jordan The following is a list of chiefs of mission from the United States to Jordan. The first chief of mission, Gerald A. Drew held the title of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. The second chief of mission, Joseph C. Green, was appo ...

(1978–81) and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

(1984–86). He is a member of the

American Academy of Diplomacy The American Academy of Diplomacy is a private, nonprofit, non-partisan, elected organization whose active membership is limited to men and women who have held positions of high responsibility in crafting and implementing American foreign policy. ...

and

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is a nonprofit organization that is independent and nonpartisan. CFR is based in New York Ci ...

Early life

Veliotes was born in Oakland, California, on October 28, 1928 to

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

immigrants. He had an older brother, the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and ...

Johnny Otis Johnny Otis (born Ioannis Alexandres Veliotes; December 28, 1921 – January 17, 2012) was an American singer, musician, composer, bandleader, record producer, and talent scout. He was a seminal influence on American R&B and rock and roll. He ...

. He served in the U.S. Army from 1946 to 1948 and then went on to graduate from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

(B.A., 1952; M.A., 1954) where he played football and rugby.

Diplomatic career

Veliotes joined the

U.S. Foreign Service The United States Foreign Service is the primary personnel system used by the diplomatic service of the United States federal government, under the aegis of the United States Department of State. It consists of over 13,000 professionals carryi ...

in 1955. He served as consular officer in Naples in 1955-57 and economic officer in Rome in 1957-60 before returning to the U.S. to work in the Secretariat and then in the Bureau of Cultural and Educational Affairs from 1962 to 1964. He then served as political officer New Delhi (1964–66) and Vientiane (1966–69) before being selected as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at Princeton University in 1969. Veliotes was Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of State (1970–73), then served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Tel Aviv, returning to the Department of State as Deputy Director of the Policy Planning Staff (1976–77) and then Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs (1977–78). He was Ambassador to Jordan (1978–81) and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs (1981–84). He then served as Ambassador to Egypt until his retirement from the Foreign Service in April, 1986.

Post-Foreign Service career

In May 1986, Veliotes became

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

of the

Association of American Publishers The Association of American Publishers (AAP) is the national trade association of the American book publishing industry. AAP lobbies for book, journal, and education publishers in the United States. AAP members include most of the major commercia ...

and retired as

President Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

in June 1997. He is also a member of the

Middle East Institute The Middle East Institute (MEI) is a non-profit, non-partisan think tank and cultural center in Washington, D.C., founded in 1946. It seeks to "increase knowledge of the Middle East among the United States citizens and promote a better understan ...

Foundation for Middle East Peace The Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP) is an American nonprofit organization. It states it promotes a just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through grants, public programming, and research. The organization was established in 197 ...

, and the

Veterans of Foreign Wars The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), formally the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, is an organization of US war veterans, who, as military service members fought in wars, campaigns, and expeditions on foreign land, waters, or ...

. Veliotes has received the Glen T. Seaborg Award (the equivalent of a lifetime achievement award for former Cal

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

alumni Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

), the

B'nai Brith B'nai B'rith International (, from he, בְּנֵי בְּרִית, translit=b'né brit, lit=Children of the Covenant) is a Jewish service organization. B'nai B'rith states that it is committed to the security and continuity of the Jewish peop ...

"Faith of Our Fathers" Award for contributions to peace in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

, a number of Presidential and Departmental Honor Awards, and also the "Chevalier del Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" Award from the

French Government The Government of France ( French: ''Gouvernement français''), officially the Government of the French Republic (''Gouvernement de la République française'' ), exercises executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister, who ...

for outstanding services to international

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. He currently serves on the boards of

Amideast Amideast (the America-Mideast Educational and Training Services) is a U.S. non-profit organization that works to strengthen mutual understanding and cooperation between Americans and the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa, and to offer o ...

and the

, as well as

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for the Hollings Center for International Dialogue.

Service chronology

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Veliotes, Nicholas Alexander 1928 births Living people People from Oakland, California American people of Greek descent Ambassadors of the United States to Jordan Ambassadors of the United States to Egypt United States Foreign Service personnel University of California, Berkeley alumni American expatriates in Italy American expatriates in India American expatriates in Laos American expatriates in Israel