Jeffrey David Feltman (born 1959) is an American diplomat and former U.S. Special Envoy for Horn of Africa, serving from April 23, 2021 to January 10, 2022. He previously served as

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Under- Secretary-General for Political Affairs. As head of the

United Nations Department of Political Affairs The United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) is a department of the United Nations Secretariat, Secretariat of the United Nations (UN) with responsibility for monitoring and assessing global political developments ...

Feltman oversaw the UN's diplomatic efforts to prevent and mitigate conflict worldwide.

Early life and education

Feltman was born to parents David and Roberta Feltman in

Greenville, Ohio Greenville is a city in Darke County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is near Ohio's western edge, about northwest of Dayton, Ohio, Dayton. The population was 12,786 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History Indigenous ...

in 1959. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and fine arts from

Ball State University Ball State University (Ball State or BSU) is a public research university in Muncie, Indiana, United States. The university has three off-campus centers in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, and Fishers, Indiana. The university is composed of seven aca ...

in 1981 and a Master of Arts in law and diplomacy from the

Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy is the graduate school of international affairs of Tufts University, in Medford, Massachusetts. Fletcher is one of America's oldest graduate schools of international relations. As of 2017, the student bo ...

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

in 1983. He speaks

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

, English,

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

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 ...

and Hungarian.

Career

Feltman joined the

United States 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 carr ...

in 1986, serving his first tour as consular officer in

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

. He served as an economic officer at the U.S. Embassy in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

from 1988 to 1991. From 1991 to 1993, Feltman served in the office of the Deputy Secretary of State,

Lawrence Eagleburger Lawrence Sidney Eagleburger (August 1, 1930 – June 4, 2011) was an American statesman and career diplomat, who served briefly as the secretary of state under President George H. W. Bush from December 1992 to January 1993, one of the shortest t ...

as a special assistant concentrating on the coordination of U.S. assistance to

Eastern Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...

and

Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...

. After a year of

studies at the

University of Jordan The University of Jordan (), often abbreviated UJ or JU, is a public university located in Amman, Jordan. Founded in 1962, and it is the largest and oldest institution of higher education in Jordan. It is located in the capital Amman in the J ...

Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...

, Feltman served in the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv from 1995 to 1998, covering economic issues in the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

. From 1998 to 2000, Feltman served as chief of the political and economic section at the U.S. Embassy in

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

. He served in Embassy

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

as Ambassador

Martin Indyk Martin Sean Indyk (July 1, 1951 – July 25, 2024) was an Australian-American diplomat and foreign relations analyst with expertise in the Middle East. Indyk was a distinguished fellow in International Diplomacy and later executive vice preside ...

's special assistant on peace process issues from 2000 to 2001. He then moved to the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem, where he served first as deputy from August 2001 to November 2002) and then as acting principal officer from November 2002 to December 2003. Feltman volunteered to serve at the

Coalition Provisional Authority The Coalition Provisional Authority (; , CPA) was a Provisional government, transitional government of Iraq established following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, invasion of the country on 19 March 2003 by Multi-National Force – Iraq, U.S.-led Co ...

office in Irbil, Iraq, from January to April 2004. from which he moved on to become the

United States ambassador to Lebanon This is a list of ambassadors of the United States and other Heads of Mission to Lebanon. * George Wadsworth (1942–1947) – Consul General, later promoted to Envoy. Also was head of mission to Syria but resident in Beirut. * Lowell C. Pinkert ...

from July 2004 to January 2008. Feltman served as the

assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs The assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs is the head of the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs within the United States Department of State. The assistant secretary guides the operation of the U.S. diplomatic establishment in vario ...

from August 2009 to June 2012 with the rank of career minister, before taking his post at the United Nations. In June 2012 he was appointed under-secretary-general for political affairs, a position he held until April 2018. In September 2017, Feltman announced his support for

Palestinian statehood The history of the State of Palestine describes the creation and evolution of the State of Palestine in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. During the British mandate period, numerous plans of partition of Palestine were proposed but without the agr ...

, stating "Economic development, critical as it is, is no substitute for sovereignty and statehood."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feltman, Jeffrey David 1959 births Living people Ambassadors of the United States to Lebanon 20th-century American Jews People from Greenville, Ohio Ball State University alumni The Fletcher School at Tufts University alumni University of Jordan alumni Under-Secretaries-General of the United Nations Assistant secretaries of state for Near Eastern affairs United States special envoys United States Foreign Service personnel American officials of the United Nations 21st-century American Jews Consuls-general for the United States in Jerusalem