Douglas Thomas Hickey is an American businessman and diplomat who served as the

United States ambassador to Finland This is a list of ambassadors of the United States to Finland. Until 1917 Finland had been a subject of Russia as the Grand Duchy of Finland. As a result of the Bolshevist October Revolution in Russia, Finland declared its independence on Dece ...

from 2022 to 2024. He has more than 30 years of operational experience holding senior-level positions in the telecom, internet, and technology industries.

Education

Hickey earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics in 1977 from

Siena College Siena College is a Private college, private Franciscan college in Loudonville, New York, United States. It was founded by the Order of Friars Minor in 1937 and is named after the Franciscan friar Bernardino of Siena. The college enrolls approxi ...

Career

From 1989 to 1994, Hickey was the president of

Metropolitan Fiber Systems MFS Communications Company, Inc. (Metropolitan Fiber Systems) was a competitive local exchange carrier that owned and operated local network access facilities installed in and around major U.S. cities and several major European cities. MFS also ...

. He later joined GlobalCenter, a web hosting service, before it was acquired by

Exodus Communications Exodus Communications, the world's largest web hosting provider at the time, was a data center provider that provided retail and commercial server colocation and was an Internet service provider to dot-com businesses. Exodus went public in 1998 ...

. From 1998 until his resignation in 2001, Hickey was the president and CEO of

Critical Path, Inc. Critical Path was a provider of messaging services, working with mobile operators, telecommunications companies, ISPs, and enterprises. It was acquired on December 4, 2013 by Openwave Messaging.San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. He was later the president and CEO of BinWise, Inc., a company that provides software used to track beer, spirits, and wine inventory to businesses in the food and beverage industry. In 2014, Hickey was appointed to serve as the United States Ambassador and commissioner general to

Expo Milano Expo 2015 was a World Expo hosted by Milan, Italy. It opened on May 1 at 10:00 CEST and closed on October 31. Milan hosted an exposition for the second time; the first was the 1906 Milan International The Milan International was a world's fa ...

by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

Ambassador to Finland

Despite initial reports that President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

was considering to nominate him as Ambassador to Italy and

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

, he was eventually nominated as Ambassador to Finland on October 8, 2021. Hearings on Hickey's nomination were held before the

Senate Foreign Relations Committee The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a standing committee of the U.S. Senate charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. It is generally responsible for authorizing and overseeing foreign a ...

on March 3, 2022. The committee favorably reported his nomination to the Senate floor on March 23, 2022. Hickey was confirmed by the entire Senate via

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "by live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by respondin ...

on March 24, 2022. Because of pandemic protocols related to COVID-19, Hickey took his oath of office in Sun Valley, Idaho. He presented his credentials to President

Sauli Niinistö Sauli Väinämö Niinistö (, born 24 August 1948) is a Finnish politician who served as the 12th president of Finland from 2012 to 2024. A lawyer by education, Niinistö was Chairman of the National Coalition Party (NCP) from 1994 to 2001, Mini ...

on May 11, 2022. During Hickey's tenure, major developments in U.S.-Finland relations include Finland's ascension to NATO and a joint statement on U.S.-Finland Science and Technology Cooperation, including biotechnology, climate science, and health science. Hickey retired from his post on September 20, 2024.

Awards and recognitions

In 2016, Hickey received an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

degree from Siena College.

Personal life

Hickey and his wife, Dawn Ross, have been prominent financial supporters of Democratic presidential candidates, including

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...

Hillary 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 ...

, and

. They have two sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hickey, Doug Living people Siena University (Loudonville, New York) alumni Businesspeople from California California Democrats American venture capitalists Year of birth missing (living people) Ambassadors of the United States to Finland