UNITED STATES SENATE
SUBJECT: Ambassadorial Nomination: Certificate of
Demonstrated Competence — Foreign Service
Act, Section 304(a)(4)
POST: Republic of Maldives
CANDIDATE: Hugo Yue-Ho Yon
Hugo Yon is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor. He currently serves as Senior Advisor in the Office of the Under Secretary of Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment in the U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C. Prior to that Mr. Yon was the Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of International Organization Affairs, and before that the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Transportation Affairs in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs. Mr. Yon worked as well as Director for International Economics and Finance and as Director for India and the Subcontinent, both at the National Security Council. Earlier, Mr. Yon was assigned as the Deputy Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India. Mr. Yon’s demonstrated leadership ability, diverse and wide-ranging background as a career diplomat and his previous work in, and on the Indian Subcontinent make him a well-qualified candidate to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Maldives.
Mr. Yon also served as Deputy Economic Counselor of the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia and as Deputy Financial Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. In addition, he had earlier assignments as an Economic Officer in both Jakarta and Beijing and as a Consular Officer in Guangzhou, China.
Mr. Yon earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of California Berkeley and a Master of Public Affairs degree from the School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University. He is the recipient of the National Security Service Award from the White House and multiple State Department awards including the Cordell Hull Award for Economic Achievement by Senior Officers and the Frank Loy Award for International Environmental Performance. Mr. Yon speaks Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese and also Indonesian.