This biography is no longer current; at present no other official Department of State biographical information is available.
[Ambassador Irving retired from the Foreign Service on September 29, 2012.]
Earl M. Irving was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 31, 2009 and sworn in at the Department of State by Under Secretary Patrick Kennedy on August 27, 2009 as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Kingdom of Swaziland. Ambassador Earl Irving replaced Ambassador Maurice Parker who departed Swaziland on June 12, 2009.
Prior to this appointment, Ambassador Irving has served as a career development officer to senior-level Foreign Service officers and construction engineers since August 2008. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Mr. Irving joined the U.S. Department of State in January 1983. Prior to his current assignment, he served as consul general in Melbourne, Australia (2005-2008); as political counselor to U.S. Mission to the Organization of American States (2003-2005); and as labor counselor to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City (2001-2003). Mr. Irving also served as Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe (1998-2001); and principal officer of the U.S. Consulate in Recife, Brazil (1995-1998).
His other foreign assignments were in South Africa, the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he began his career. His domestic assignments included two tours in the Bureau of African Affairs. Mr. Irving holds a B.A. from Middlebury College and an M.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.
