Who is he?

Glyn Davies is a career Foreign Service Officer and was most recently the special representative for North Korea policy at the U.S. Department of State. He was only the second person to serve in that position. Prior to this, Davies was the U.S. ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency. He is best known for his push for a return to the six-party denuclearization talks between North Korea and China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the United States.

Davies received a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and a master’s degree in national security strategy from the National War College.

Ambassador Davies speaking about President Obama’s nuclear agenda at Ulkopoliittinen Instituutti Finnish Institute of International Affairs in 2010. Source: UPI-FIIA’s flickr photostream, used under a creative commons license.

Why is he in the news?

President Barack Obama on April 13 nominated Davies the next U.S. ambassador to Thailand, replacing Kristie Kenney, who held this position from 2011 to 2014. Thailand has long been one of the strongest U.S. allies in the region, but Thai-U.S. relations have been on the rockier side following the May 2014 military coup, leaving many challenges for the incoming ambassador.

What should we expect?

A career diplomat, Davies is expected to put his knowledge of crisis diplomacy to good use in the context of Thailand’s uncertain political landscape. Expect Davies to continue calling on the Thai military and interim government to restore democracy and show support for the civil and political rights of the Thai people.