Bernadette Meehan

Bernadette M. Meehan (born 1975) is an American diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Chile from 2022 to 2025. She previously worked as Executive Vice President of Global Programs for the Obama Foundation. She also served as spokesperson for the United States National Security Council during the Obama Administration, and as a Foreign Service Officer with the Department of State for more than a decade.

Early life and education

Meehan was born in the Bronx, raised in Pleasantville, New York and graduated from Kennedy Catholic High School in Somers. She graduated from Boston College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. After graduation she worked on Wall Street, first at JPMorgan Chase and then Lehman Brothers. She later joined the United States Foreign Service.

Career

Meehan joined the United States Department of State as a Foreign Service officer in 2004, and began her new career as a consular officer at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, Colombia. She survived a kidnapping and physical assault by armed men in Bogota in April 2006. Two of the perpetrators were arrested and sentenced to ten years in jail, while two perpetrators were never found.

She served in Colombia for two years before volunteering to serve in Iraq. She worked at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad from 2006 to 2007 as a Consular Officer, and for several months as Special Assistant to Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. She was wounded in Baghdad, by a rocket fired by an Iran-backed militia.

In September 2007 Meehan left Iraq to study Arabic at the Department of State's Foreign Service Institute in Virginia to prepare for her next tour as the public affairs officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Meehan was selected in 2007 as a Powell Fellow, recognized as one of the 12 most promising future leaders in the Department of State.

In 2010 she returned to Washington, D.C. to work as a State Department "Line Officer", advancing the Secretary of State’s overseas travel. She then became Special Assistants to the Secretary of State. In 2012, Meehan was detailed to the White House National Security Council (NSC) and in 2014 she became the spokeswoman for the National Security Council.

Meehan left the NSC in 2015 to become an adjunct professor and State Department resident fellow at Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. She was recalled to the NSC to oversee the planning for President Obama's historic trip to Havana'', her appointment to this position reflected the importance the President put on the trip and the complicated nature of planning the visit. She then remained at the White House as a Senior Advisor to President Obama until January 2017.

In February 2017, Meehan departed the Foreign Service to serve as the Chief International Officer at the Obama Foundation, a Chicago-based nonprofit organization founded by President and Mrs. Obama that seeks out to inspire, empower and connect people to change their world for the better. In this role, she was responsible for developing and overseeing all international programs for the Obama Foundation, including the Obama Foundation Scholars; Leaders Africa program; Leaders Asia-Pacific program; and Leaders Europe program. She eventually became the Executive Vice President for Global Programs and a member of the Foundation's Executive Committee.

Meehan served on the board of advisors for Georgetown University's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, within the Walsh School of Foreign Service. She also served on the board of advisors for Hostage US, a non-profit organization that supports families of Americans taken hostage abroad and supports hostages when they return home.

United States ambassador to Chile

On July 9, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Meehan to be the next United States ambassador to Chile. Hearings on her nomination were held before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 15, 2022. The committee favorably reported her nomination on May 18, 2022. On July 20, 2022, the United States Senate confirmed her nomination by a 51–44 vote. She was sworn in on August 29, 2022 and presented her credentials to President Gabriel Boric on September 30, 2022.

As Ambassador, Meehan was known for a large social media following and popularity among the Chilean people. She made the front page of El Mercurio, Chile's newspaper of record, when she completed a skydive with U.S. and Chilean Special Forces as part of multi-nation joint military exercise Southern Star.

She was lauded for multiple commercial and regulatory successes including passage of the U.S.-Chile Bilateral Tax Treaty in both the U.S. and Chilean Senate after more than ten years pending in the U.S. Senate; announcement of Google as lead investor of the Humboldt Cable, the first subsea cable connecting South American and the Asia-Pacific region; and negotiation of a side letter to the U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement protecting market access for U.S. dairy and meat exports using common names.

During Meehan's tenure U.S. mining firms also announced significant expansions, including Freeport McMoran's $7.5 billion investment in copper mining and Albemarle's expansion of lithium extraction and processing.

Following the election of President Donald Trump, Meehan submitted her resignation as Ambassador effective January 10, 2025, following tradition for political appointees of both parties.

Personal life

Meehan speaks Spanish and Arabic.

She is married to Evan S. Medeiros, the Penner Family Chair in Asian Studies at Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service. During the Obama administration, Medeiros held senior positions on the National Security Council including Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Asia.

References

External links

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*Join President Obama in Berlin
Join President Obama in Berlin:
*President Obama's Visit to Indonesia
President Obama's Visit to Indonesia
*President Obama's Visit with Emerging Leaders in Singapore
President Obama’s Visit with Emerging Leaders in Singapore
*President Obama's Visit to New Zealand
President Obama's Visit to New Zealand
*The Obama Foundation Scholars Program
The Obama Foundation Scholars Program

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meehan, Bernadette
1975 births
Living people
21st-century American diplomats
Ambassadors of the United States to Chile
American financial analysts
American women ambassadors
Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences alumni
Obama administration personnel
Political spokespersons
United States Foreign Service personnel
United States National Security Council staffers
Women financial analysts
JPMorgan Chase people