UNITED STATES SENATE
SUBJECT: Ambassadorial Nomination: Certificate of
Demonstrated Competence — Foreign Service
Act, Section 304(a)(4)
POST: The Independent State of Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and the Republic of Vanuatu
CANDIDATE: Ann Marie Yastishock
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 new 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. Yastishock’s strong development background and deep regional experience coupled with her extensive management experience and demonstrated ability to lead large teams as well as policy-oriented offices, make her a well-qualified candidate to be the U.S. Ambassador to Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu.
Prior to joining USAID, Yastishock worked as a Rule of Law Liaison for ABA/CEELI with the parliaments of Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. A native of Pennsylvania, Yastishock earned her B.S. in Economics from Penn 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.