Gene Allan Cretz (born April 20, 1950) is a career diplomat who retired from the Senior Foreign Service in 2015. Before retiring, he was the U.S. Ambassador to Ghana.

Early life

Cretz was born in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

, and attended Albany High School, graduating with the class of 1968. He subsequently taught there from 1977 to 1979. He received a bachelor's degree in English literature from the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...

and a master's degree in linguistics and secondary education from

Buffalo State College The State University of New York Buffalo State University (colloquially referred to as Buffalo State University, SUNY Buffalo State, Buffalo State, or simply Buff State) is a public college, public university in Buffalo, New York. It is part of ...

Buffalo Buffalo most commonly refers to: * True buffalo or Bubalina, a subtribe of wild cattle, including most "Old World" buffalo, such as water buffalo * Bison, a genus of wild cattle, including the American buffalo * Buffalo, New York, a city in the n ...

Diplomatic postings

Gene Cretz previously served in key diplomatic posts in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. In addition to these postings, he has also been stationed in

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, and in

Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Cretz was Christopher Stevens' immediate predecessor as U.S. ambassador to Libya. Prior to assuming his post in Libya, he was a

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spain, ...

. Before this, he was the first U.S. ambassador to Libya since 1972, after being nominated in July 2007 by President Bush. His nomination was confirmed by the US Senate on November 21, 2008. He was sworn in as U.S. ambassador to Libya by Secretary of State

Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza "Condi" Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist serving since 2020 as the 8th director of Stanford University's Hoover Institution. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served ...

on December 17, 2008, at the

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

. He arrived in Libya on December 27, 2008. Cretz speaks several languages, including

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Dari Dari (; endonym: ), Dari Persian (, , or , ), or Eastern Persian is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the Afghan government's official term for the Persian language;Lazard, G.Darī – The New Persian ...

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

, and

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

. President Barack Obama nominated him for the post to Ghana in April 2012. He was sworn in as the U.S. ambassador to Ghana by Secretary of State

Hillary Rodham Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

on September 11, 2012. He presented his credentials on October 8, 2012, and served until June 26, 2015. From 2015 to 2019, Cretz was one of two representatives for the director of the Multinational Force & Observers (MFO). During this assignment, he resided in Tel Aviv, Israel. Ambassador Cretz returned to the Washington, D.C., area in 2019.

Personal life

He is married to the former Annette Williams and the couple has two adult children, Jeffrey and Gabrielle. His son is a commissioned officer in the Air National Guard in the greater Philadelphia area and his daughter is a consultant in Miami, Florida.

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Cretz, Gene 1950 births Living people Ambassadors of the United States to Ghana Ambassadors of the United States to Libya Buffalo State College alumni People from Albany, New York Stony Brook University alumni University of Rochester alumni United States Foreign Service personnel

Early life

Diplomatic postings

Personal life

See also

References

External links