The Diplomacy Center Foundation is pleased to announce that retired Foreign Service Officer Robert Heath, who has devoted 21 years to realizing the National Museum of American Diplomacy, is now a Founding Ambassador. He joins 69 other members of the US diplomatic community as part of the Founding Ambassadors Society.
Bob is the executive director of both the Diplomacy Center Foundation and the Public Diplomacy Council—a nonprofit organization committed to the academic study, professional practice, and responsible advocacy of public diplomacy. He is also a trustee of the American Council for International Education, a nonprofit organization that administers international exchange programs.
In 1997, Bob completed 27 years as a career diplomat in the US Foreign Service that included assignments for the United States Information Agency (USIA) in seven countries on four continents. His last assignment was as director of the United States Information Service in Kyiv, Ukraine, from 1994 to 1997. During that period, he also occasionally served as deputy chief of mission.
Previously, Bob was spokesperson and public affairs advisor for the US Delegation to the Negotiations on Nuclear and Space Arms in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1983 to 1984 and again from 1989 until the signing of the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START I) Treaty in Moscow on July 31, 1991.
Bob also served as spokesman and press attaché at the US embassy in Bonn, West Germany; as director of the American Cultural Centers in Cape Town, South Africa, and Karachi, Pakistan; and as an assistant information officer in Kinshasa, Zaire.
Bob also served in the Washington headquarters of USIA as Deputy Director of the Office of Policy Guidance; Senior Policy Officer for Arms Control, Security Issues and European Affairs; Policy Guidance Coordinator; and Regional Projects Coordinator for Africa.
He holds a BA in physical science from the University of California at Riverside and an MA in international studies from American University in Washington, DC. Bob was born in Loma Linda, California, and has resided in Washington, DC, since 1965 when not on assignment overseas.