John F. Maisto, Ambassador (ret.) is a thirty-eight year former career member of the U.S. Foreign Service. He was Ambassador to Venezuela (1997-2000), Nicaragua (1993-1996), and the Organization of American States (2003-2006). He was Senior Director for the Western Hemisphere at the National Security Council and, concurrently, Special Assistant to the President, 2001-2003. He was Foreign Affairs Adviser at U.S. Southern Command, 2000-2001. He served at the State Department as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Central America, 1992-93, and Deputy U.S. Permanent Representative at the U.S. Mission to the OAS, 1989-92. He was deputy Chief of Mission in Panama, 1986-89, in the build-up to the transition to elected government. Previously at the State Department he was Deputy Director and then Director of Philippine Affairs, 1982-1986, during the People Power transition to democracy. His additional assignments included Bolivia, Costa Rica, and the Philippines. He was in the U.S. Information Agency in Argentina and Bolivia.

He is currently a Director of the Miami-based U.S. Education Finance Group. He is a Director of ECI, a Central America-based resort and retirement company, and Senior Consultant on International Development at Arizona State University. Since 2012 he has been President of the Washington-based US-Philippines Society. He writes and speaks on U.S. foreign policy; trade, investment and growth; democratic transitions; Western Hemisphere and East Asia-Pacific regional issues; security and defense matters; and international education.

He began his career as a Foreign Service Officer in 1968. A native of Braddock, Pennsylvania, Ambassador Maisto is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He has a Master’s Degree in Latin American History from San Carlos University, Guatemala. He is married to Maria Consuelo Gaston of Manapla, Negros Occidental, in the Philippines; they have three children and five grandchildren.