Meet AMIDEAST's President
Theodore Kattouf
was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Upon
graduating from the Pennsylvania State University
in 1968, he served for 3-1/2 years in the
United States Army infantry, attaining the
rank of Captain. He joined the Foreign Service
in 1972.
From 1973 to 1975, Mr. Kattouf served
in Kuwait as an economic and commercial
officer. Following Kuwait, he attended the
Foreign Service Arabic Language Program
in Beirut and Tunis before being assigned
as a political officer to Damascus. Mr.
Kattouf then returned to the United States
to serve as a Middle East analyst in the
State Department. From 1980 to 1982, he
worked as an International Relations Officer
in the Department's Near East Bureau. In
1982-83, Mr. Kattouf was a State Department
mid-career fellow at Princeton University.
From 1983 to 1986, Mr. Kattouf served in
Baghdad as Deputy Chief of Mission. He then
served in Sanaa, one year as Deputy Chief
of Mission, and one year as Chargé
d'Affaires, a.i. Mr. Kattouf returned to
the United States in 1988 to serve as Deputy
Director and subsequently Director of the
Office of Lebanon, Jordan and Syrian Affairs.
In 1992, he returned overseas, first as
Deputy Chief of Mission in Damascus, then
as Deputy Chief of Mission in Riyadh, where
he served from 1995 to 1998. President Clinton
nominated Mr. Kattouf as Ambassador to the
United Arab Emirates and was confirmed by
the Senate in September 1998. He was then
nominated by President Bush as Ambassador
to Syria and confirmed by the Senate in
August 2001. On September 2, 2003, he became
President and CEO of AMIDEAST.
During his career Ambassador Kattouf has
received the Cobb Award for outstanding
advocacy efforts on behalf of U.S. companies
abroad, two Meritorious Honor Awards, four
Senior Performance Awards, and one Presidential
Honor Award. He was also named runner-up
as DCM of the Year for 1996. He speaks English
and Arabic. He is married to Jeannie (Ajay)
Kattouf and has one daughter and three sons,
Jennifer, Jonathan, Paul, and Michael. He
is also the proud grandfather of four boys.
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