Senate Confirms Donna Ann Welton as U.S. Ambassador to Timor-Leste
Welton is the latest ambassador confirmed by the Senate over the last week.
The U.S. Senate today held a recorded vote to confirm one individual nominated by President Joe Biden to represent the United States abroad as an Ambassador.
In a 52-40 vote, Donna Ann Welton was confirmed as the U.S. Ambassador to Timor-Leste. The posting has been led by two separate chargé d’affaires since August 2021, when C. Kevin Blackstone resigned after serving since March 2021.
Welton was nominated to this position by Biden in September 2022. She is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, with the rank of Minister-Counselor. From June 2022 to January 2023, she served as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Programs and Operations in the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. She previously served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. embassy in Helsinki, Finland - which included a stint as chargé d’affaires for eighteen months.
Additional postings during Welton’s time in the foreign service include work at the U.S. embassies in Afghanistan, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea. She also spent time as the Acting Director for Southeast Asia in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy and Deputy Director of Communications and Public Affairs at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.