Ambassador (ret.) Michael Ratney

Ambassador (ret.) Michael Ratney served for over three decades as a distinguished U.S. diplomat, most recently as the U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Amb. Ratney served as the U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem, as the Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy to Israel, as well as postings in Baghdad, Beirut, Casablanca, Doha, Mexico City, Tunis, Bridgetown, and Washington DC. Over his career, Amb. Ratney has been at the center of high-profile diplomatic initiatives throughout the Middle East, including as U.S. Special Envoy for Syria. He taught leadership on the faculty of the National Defense University in Washington, and was Dean of the State Department’s School of Language Studies. Amb. Ratney speaks Arabic and French, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and earned degrees from Boston University and George Washington University.