Thursday, December 10, 2009

Officially In: Mari Del Carmen Aponte to San Salvador

The scenic Jiboa Valley and San Vicente volcanoImage via Wikipedia

On December 9, President Obama announced his intent to nominate Mari Del Carmen Aponte to be the next US Ambassador to the Republic of El Salvador. The WH released the following brief bio below:

Mari Del Carmen Aponte is currently an attorney and independent consultant with Aponte Consulting. From 2001-2004, Ms. Aponte was the Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Federal Affairs Administration (PRFAA). Prior to that, she practiced law for nearly twenty years with Washington D.C. based law firms. Ms. Aponte also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Council of La Raza and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. She is also a member of the Board of the University of the District of Columbia and Rosemont College. She served as president of the Hispanic National Bar Association; the Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia; and is a member of the District of Columbia Judicial Nominations Commission. In 2005, she was also elected to the Board of Directors of Oriental Financial Group (NYSE-OFG). In 1979, as a White House Fellow, Ms. Aponte was Special Assistant to the United States Housing and Urban Development Secretary Moon Landrieu.

Ms. Aponte has a B.A. in Political Science from Rosemont College, a M.A. in Theatre from Villanova University, and a J.D. from Temple University.

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Additional bio from Business Wire, February 24, 2005 (Oriental Financial Group Names Mari Carmen Aponte and Jose Gil De Lamadrid to the Board of Directors):

Ms. Aponte is considered an expert in legal and policy support in diverse matters involving federal government relations in the areas of banking, tax legislation and regulations, as well as negotiations with federal government agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Fannie Mae. She began her career in Washington in 1979 after earning her J.D. from Temple University School of Law.

Her government positions have included serving in the Carter Administration as a Special Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and in the Clinton Administration as Special Assistant in the Office of Presidential Personnel. As PRFAA's Executive Director from 2001 to 2004, Ms. Aponte represented the Governor of Puerto Rico on all federal matters to U.S. state and federal agencies as well as to Congress and the Executive branch. Her private practice positions have included being an Associate of the law firm of Powell, Goldstein, Frazer & Murphy and a Partner of the law firm Alexander, Gebhardt, Aponte & Marks, both of Washington.

If confirmed, Ms. Aponte would replace investment banker, Charles Glazer who was appointed US Ambassador to El Salvador on Dec 5, 2006. Although more career diplomats were appointed to this post than non-career appointees, the last two ambassadors sent to San Salvador were both political appointees. Other previous appointees to the US Mission in El Salvador that you might recognize – the current US Ambassador to Pakistan, Anne W. Patterson served as US Ambassador to San Salvador from 1997-2000; Thomas R. Pickering served as Ambassador from 1983-1985.

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