Tequila Talk
Conversation with New U.S. Ambassador to Mexico
Earl Anthony Wayne
Thursday, September 29, 2011
6:30 p.m. – 7:45 p.m.
Earl Anthony “Tony” Wayne was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to Mexico in a ceremony in the U.S. State Department on September 6, 2011 [read his address at the ceremony]. With less than a month in Mexico, Ambassador Wayne is visiting Tijuana and has agreed to come to the Institute of the Americas on Thursday September 29 for a Tequila Talk at 6:30 p.m. This will be an excellent opportunity to meet the man who will be guiding U.S. policy in Mexico for the coming years.
Wayne has served as a career diplomat since 1975 both in Washington and in many posts around the world. He was ambassador to Argentina (November 2006 – June 2009) and later coordinated development and economic affairs, overseeing U.S. government non-military assistance to Afghanistan. In May 2010, he was appointed deputy ambassador in Kabul, putting him in operational charge of all embassy sections, programs, agencies and offices. He also has the distinction of serving as the State Department’s chief economic and business official (assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs) longer than any other person (2000-2006).
Wayne was special assistant to Secretaries of State Alexander Haig and George Shultz (1981- 1983) and served as first secretary at the U.S. embassy in Paris, France (1984-1987).
He took a leave of absence from 1987 to 1989 to work as the national security correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor, returning to the State Department as director for regional affairs for the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Counter-Terrorism from 1989 to 1991.
Wayne holds master’s degrees in political science (Stanford University 1973 and Princeton University 1975) and in public administration from Harvard University (1984).
This will be the last event Ambassador Jeffrey Davidow will host as President of the Institute of the Americas. Come say hello and meet incoming president Ambassador Charles Shapiro.