Robert Francis Cekuta (born 1954) is a career

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

, and served as

U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan The United States recognized Azerbaijan's independence on December 25, 1991, and announced the establishment of diplomatic relations on February 19, 1992. The Baku embassy was opened by interim ambassador Robert Finn on March 16, 1992. Chi ...

from February 2015 through March 2018.

Early life and education

Cekuta attended

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

School of Foreign Service The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS) is the school of international relations at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. It grants degrees at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Founded in 1919, SFS is the oldest continu ...

, graduating in 1976 with a B.S. He then went to the

Thunderbird School of Global Management The Thunderbird School of Global Management (or simply Thunderbird) is a global leadership, management, and business school at Arizona State University, a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. It was founded in 1946 as an i ...

, earning a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

international marketing Global marketing is defined as “marketing on a worldwide scale reconciling or taking global operational differences, similarities and opportunities to reach global objectives". Global marketing is also a field of study in general business mana ...

in 1978. He later earned another master's degree in national security strategies from the

National War College In the United States, the National War College (NWC) is a school within the National Defense University. It is housed in Roosevelt Hall on Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., the third-oldest Army post still active. History The National ...

Career

Cekuta 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 1978 and his early assignments included Vienna, Austria; Baghdad, Iraq; Johannesburg, South Africa; and Sana'a, Yemen. He also directed a task force in Kosovo during the conflict there and served in the Bureau of Near East and South Asian Affairs. From 1996 to 1999, he was

deputy chief of mission A deputy chief of mission (DCM, in Europe the term deputy head of mission – DHoM or DHM is used instead) is the number-two diplomat assigned to an embassy or other diplomatic mission. The deputy chief of mission is usually considered the second ...

in the U.S. Embassy in Tirana, Albania. Much of Cekuta's career has focused on business and trade issues. In 1999, he was senior advisor to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and in 2000 he was named director of Economic Policy Analysis and Public Diplomacy in the State Department. Cekuta in 2002 was named director of the Iraq Economic Group in the

Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs The Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs (EB) is a bureau within the U.S. Department of State tasked with promoting economic security and prosperity at home and abroad. It reports to the Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, ...

. In 2002, he was also the bureau's special negotiator for biotechnology. Beginning in 2003, Cekuta was economic minister-counselor at the embassy in Berlin and in 2007 he was sent to Tokyo as the minister-counselor for economic affairs. Cekuta came home in 2010, first as senior advisor for

food security Food security is the state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, healthy Human food, food. The availability of food for people of any class, gender, ethnicity, or religion is another element of food protection. Simila ...

in the State Department and later that year as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Energy, Sanctions and Commodities. One of his more prominent roles involved working with the jewelry industry on compliance with regulations on conflict diamonds and gold. In 2011, Cekuta became the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the

Bureau of Energy Resources The Bureau of Energy Resources (ENR) is a bureau in the United States Department of State that coordinates the department's efforts in promoting international energy security. Under the purview of the Under Secretary of State for Economic Grow ...

. In this capacity, he acted as a point man for the State Department's views on the proposed

Keystone XL pipeline The Keystone Pipeline System is an oil pipeline system in Canada and the United States, commissioned in 2010, formerly owned by TC Energy. It is now owned by South Bow, following TC Energy's spin off of its liquids business into a separate publi ...

. Cekuta was nominated by President Barack Obama on July 8, 2014 to be U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan. Cekuta testified 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 September 17, 2014, and was confirmed on December 16. Cekuta presented his credentials to President

Ilham Aliyev Ilham Heydar Oghlu Aliyev (born 24 December 1961) is an Azerbaijani politician who has been the fourth president of Azerbaijan since 2003. He is also the leader of the New Azerbaijan Party since 2005. The son and second child of former Aze ...

on February 19, 2015, and served in the position until March 31, 2018.

Personal life

Cekuta and his wife, Anne, have three children. In addition to English he speaks

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

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

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cekuta, Robert 1954 births Living people Ambassadors of the United States to Azerbaijan People from Rochester, New York National War College alumni Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni Thunderbird School of Global Management alumni Energy policy of the United States Petroleum politics United States Foreign Service personnel