BIOGRAPHY
Marie T. Huhtala
Ambassador, Malaysia
Term of Appointment:
09/13/2001 to
05/28/2004
A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Marie T. Huhtala was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia on September 13, 2001. She was nominated by President Bush on July 17, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 3, 2001. Her previous posting was as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand. Ms. Huhtala, born and raised in California, joined the Foreign Service in November 1972. She has had previous assignments in France, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Canada, where she served as Consul General at the U.S. Consulate General in Quebec City.
In Washington she has worked in the Department of State as a Secretariat Staff Officer, Congressional Relations Officer for the Africa Bureau, Chad Desk Officer, and Chief of the East Asian Assignments Division in the Bureau of Personnel. She has also served as Deputy Director of the Office of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia Affairs, and Director of the Office of Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam Affairs.
Ms. Huhtala is a 1988 graduate of the National War College at Fort McNair, Washington. She received an undergraduate degree in French from Santa Clara University in California and a master's degree in political science from Laval University, Quebec. From 1995 to 1996 she was a member of the Senior Seminar, an interagency executive development program organized by the State Department's National Foreign Affairs Training Center. She was awarded a prize as the author of the best research project for that year's seminar.
Ms. Huhtala is the recipient of the Department of State's Superior Honor Award and Meritorious Honor Award. She speaks French, Thai, and Chinese.
Released on September 2, 2005
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