UNITED STATES SENATE
SUBJECT: Ambassadorial Nomination: Certificate of
Demonstrated Competence — Foreign Service
Act, Section 304(a)(4)
POST: Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
CANDIDATE: Ervin Jose Massinga
Ervin Jose Massinga, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, currently serves as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs. Prior to that, Mr. Massinga was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Pakistan Affairs in the State Department’s Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs and, before that, he was the Director of the Bureau’s Pakistan Office. Earlier, Mr. Massinga was Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy, Khartoum, Sudan and of the U.S. Embassy, Conakry, Guinea. In addition to his work in Africa, he has served in multiple geographic regions and a diverse array of assignments, including as a United States Trade Representative Trade Policy Officer. His extensive experience in senior leadership positions, his demonstrated success in leading interagency teams, and his broad exposure to the global engagement of the U.S. government combine to make him an excellent candidate to be the U.S. Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Ethiopia.
Among his other assignments, Mr. Massinga served at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China as Chief of the Macroeconomic, Finance, Energy Economic Unit and in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, as the Deputy Chief of the U.S. Embassy’s Political/Economic Unit. He was a Bilateral Trade Office in the State Department’s Economic Bureau and a Desk Officer in the Africa Bureau’s Office of West African Affairs. Earlier, Mr. Massinga had an assignment in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research as well as postings at the U.S. Embassies in Santiago, Chile and Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic.
Mr. Massinga earned his B.S. degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and his M.A. from the University of Washington, School of Public Administration. He is the recipient of numerous State Department awards. His foreign languages are French, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese.