Alexander F. Watson

Ambassador Alexander F. Watson "joined Hills & Company, an international consulting firm led by former United States Trade Representative Ambassador Carla A. Hills, in 2002. Hills & Company assists U.S. businesses expand their trade and investments abroad through strategic planning, identification of potential partners, negotiation on clients’ behalf, and resolution of commercial disputes.

"For six years prior to that, Ambassador Watson was with The Nature Conservancy. Initially, he was Vice President for the Latin American and Caribbean Region. In July 1998, he assumed responsibility for the full range of the Conservancy’s work abroad, as Vice President and Executive Director for International Conservation, managing programs in 27 countries in the Asia-Pacific Region, Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean , as well as the Conservation Finance, Institutional Development, Intern ational Science, and Climate Change Programs.

"Previously, he was a career foreign service officer for over thirty years, serving in his last assignment as Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs from 1993 to1996. Ambassador Watson served as United States Deputy Permanent Repre­sentative to the United Nations with the rank of Ambassador from 1989 until 1993. He was Ambas­sador to Peru from 1986 to 1989 and Deputy Chief of Mission in Brasilia, Brazil (1984-86), Bogotá , Colombia (1981-84), and La Paz , Bolivia (1979-81).

"Early assignments were in Santo Domingo and Madrid, followed by service in the Depart­ment of State as an intelli­gence analyst. From 1969 to 1973 Ambassador Watson served in Brasilia , and in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil . He then returned to the State Department as Brazil desk officer, and then as Special Assistant for Legislative and Public Affairs in the Bureau of Econom­ic and Business Affairs and, subsequently, as Director of the Office of Development Finance. Mr. Watson was decorated by the governments of Bolivia , Brazil , Colombia , El Salvador and Perú.

"Ambassador Watson is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Academy of Diplomacy, the American Foreign Service Association, and the Inter-American Dialogue. He is on the boards of Population Communications International, the Maryland/D.C. chapter of The Nature Conservancy, and the Pan American Development Foundation where he served as president, and on the Policy Council of the Una Chapman Cox Foundation. He is a member of the United States Trade Representative’s Trade and Environment Policy Advisory Committee and the United Nations Association of the United States Advisory Board and served as a m ember of the Department of Defense Regional Centers’ Board of Visitors.

"Ambassador Watson is a graduate of Harvard College and the Universi­ty of Wiscon­sin . His foreign languages are Spanish and Portu­guese. He is married and has two children."


 * Director, PCI-Media Impact
 * Signatory, Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change
 * Member, Independent Task Force on Peace and Security in Colombia