DEPUTY CHIEF OF MISSION
Biography of Richard W. Nelson
Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Yaoundé, Cameroon
Arrived Post: August 2005
Richard W. Nelson is Deputy Chief of Mission at the United States Embassy in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Prior to taking up this assignment, he attended the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, graduating with honors in June 2005.
A career Foreign Service Officer, Mr. Nelson previously served as Deputy Counselor for Political Affairs at the United States Embassy in the Philippines. His other assignments with the Department of State include the People's Republic of China, Japan, Swaziland, and Washington DC.
Mr. Nelson has received the Department of State’s Superior Honor Award and several Meritorious Honor Awards. At the Naval War College, he received the James V. Forrestal Award for Excellence in Strategy and Force Planning.
Prior to joining the State Department, Mr. Nelson was a practicing attorney in Washington DC, and a lecturer in international law at Washington and Lee University, the Catholic University of America, and the Institute on International and Comparative Law. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar.
Following graduate school at the University of Denver, where he was editor-in-chief of the law review and concurrently earned a Masters degree in international relations, Mr. Nelson was the Charles Dana Fellow of the American Society of International Law in Washington DC. He has also worked for the United Nations in assignments at UN Headquarters in New York and at the UN European Office in Geneva, Switzerland. His undergraduate education was at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Kent, England.
Mr. Nelson has edited two books on international law, and has published articles on international political and legal topics in such publications as the American Journal of International Law and International Affairs (London).
Mr. Nelson was born in Alaska and grew up near San Francisco, California. He and his wife, Pinky, have two sons, David and Thomas.
Ambassador
Deputy Chief of Mission
