A career diplomat with the rank of Minister Counselor, Michael J. Fitzpatrick has served as US ambassador to Ecuador since June 2019. Prior senior Foreign Service stints include service as deputy assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs (2016-2018); interim US permanent representative to the Organization of American States (2014-2016) and the United States coordinator for the 2015 Summit of the Americas; deputy chief of mission and charge d’affaires, a.i. at the US embassy in Lima, Peru (2011-2014), and as foreign policy advisor to the chief of the National Guard Bureau, a four-star member of the Joint Chiefs at the Department of Defense (2009-2011). Fitzpatrick also served as deputy chief of mission and charge d’affaires, a.i. at the US embassy in Asunción, Paraguay (2006-2009).
Fitzpatrick has received more than two dozen departmental awards during his diplomatic career, including the Director General’s Award for Reporting and Analysis, seven SFS Performance Awards, and six individual Superior Honor Awards. He is also recipient of the W. Averell Harriman Award from the American Foreign Service Association.
After first joining the State Department as a presidential management fellow in 1986, Fitzpatrick joined the US Foreign Service in 1988. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and a master’s in international affairs from the School of Public and International Management at Columbia University. He speaks Spanish and French.
Fitzpatrick was an event speaker at the Dialogue.
