Press Release - President Biden Announces Key Nominees

WASHINGTON – Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate the following leaders to serve as key leaders in his administration:

• Richard Mills, Jr., Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Federal Republic of Nigeria
• Ann Marie Yastishock, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and the Republic of Vanuatu

Richard Mills, Jr., Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Richard Mills, Jr., a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor, currently serves as the U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Previously, he was Deputy Chief of Mission and then Chargé d'Affaires a.i. at the U.S. Mission to Canada. Prior to that, Mills served as U.S. Ambassador to Armenia. He has also served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon and as Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d'Affaires a.i. at U.S. Embassy Valetta, Malta. Other assignments include Senior Democracy Advisor at U.S. Embassy Baghdad, Political Counselor at U.S. Embassy London, and Political Officer at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Mills was an Associate Attorney with the firm of Duncan, Allen and Mitchell in Washington, D.C. A native of Louisiana, Mills earned a B.A. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law and a M.S. in National Security Policy from the National Defense University. He is the recipient of multiple State Department awards and speaks French and Russian.

Ann Marie Yastishock, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and the Republic of Vanuatu

Ann Marie Yastishock, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor, currently serves as Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Asia, USAID. Previously, she was the USAID Mission Director in Hanoi, Vietnam. During the transition to the Biden-Harris Administration , she served as the Chief Advisor to the Acting Administrator and Chief Operating Officer for USAID. Prior to that, she was the Acting Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for Asia responsible for USAID missions and programs in East Asia and the Pacific. Before that, she oversaw USAID activities in South and Central Asia as the Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Bureau for Asia. Earlier in her career, she served as the Deputy Mission Director for the regional office of USAID covering Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus and Cyprus. Other assignments include Interim Deputy Mission Director for USAID Burma; Deputy Director of the USAID Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights and Governance; Senior Legal Advisor to USAID/Afghanistan; and Resident Legal Advisor to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Prior to joining USAID, Yastishock worked as a Rule of Law Liaison for the American Bar Association/Central and East European Law Initiative with the parliaments of Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. A native of Pennsylvania, Yastishock earned her B.S. in Economics from Pennsylvania State University and a J.D. from the Widener University School of Law. She is the recipient of numerous USAID performance awards and speaks Russian.