New US ambassador to Thailand nominated

The White House has nominated Sean O’Neill, former Consul General in Chiang Mai, as the next US Ambassador to Thailand.

O’Neill was appointed senior bureau official for the Department of State’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs on January 20th.

He joined the Foreign Service in the wake of the September 11th attacks.

He has served eight overseas tours across the Indo-Pacific region, including in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Burma, Hong Kong and as the consul general in Chiang Mai.

His domestic duties have included service in the Department of State, as a legislative fellow on the staff of the Chairman of the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs and as a Foreign Policy Advisor to the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps.

O’Neill is a native New Yorker, who worked as a capital markets attorney in New York and Tokyo before joining the Foreign Service.

He received a BA from Tulane University and a JD from Fordham University’s School of Law. He has studied Thai, Chinese, Burmese, Bengali and Japanese.

If confirmed by the Senate, he will replace Robert F. Godec, who has held the post since Oct 7th, 2022.