On September 24, President Donald Trump officially nominated Pamela Bates to be next U.S. Permanent Representative to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Bates would replace Ambassador Daniel Yohannes, who departed the post in January 2017.  In the interim the U.S. Mission to the OECD had been capably led, first, by Peter Haas, and currently by Andrew Havilland as Chargé d’Affaires.

Bates is awaiting a confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Bates has considerable experience as a State Department Foreign Service Officer (FSO) specializing in economic policy work and including a tour of duty on the staff of the U.S. Mission to the OECD which she is now being nominated to head.  USCIB CEO and President Peter Robinson welcomed her nomination.  “We at USCIB are delighted to see the nomination of an experienced economic policy maker to be the next U.S. Ambassador at the OECD,” said Robinson. “USCIB works closely with the OECD as the sole U.S. business affiliate of the OECD’s Business and Industry Advisory Committee (Business at OECD).  We and our member companies have worked closely with previous U.S. ambassadors and their staffs and look forward to continuing that close cooperation with Pamela Bates once she is confirmed and on the job in Paris.”

USCIB Vice President for Investment Policy and Financial Services Shaun Donnelly, himself a retired State Department economic officer and former Ambassador, added, “I’ve known Pam Bates from our time together at the State Department and am confident she’ll do an excellent job representing our Government at the OECD and leading the U.S. Mission.  She comes to this important post well prepared.”

Bates served for 24 years as a career member of the United States Foreign Service before assuming her current role as a partner at Securitas Global Risk Solutions in Wayne, Pennsylvania, in 2017.  While with the State Department, Bates’ assignments included service as deputy director of the Economic and Commercial Studies Division for the National Foreign Affairs Training Institute in Arlington, Virginia, and as the senior energy advisor at the United States Mission to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris, France.  She also served in the State Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs.  Ms. Bates earned her AB degree from Bowdoin College, her MA from John Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, and her MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.  She speaks French, Spanish, Portuguese, and German.