The High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, today extended his best wishes to Ambassador Larry Butler, who takes up his position as Principal Deputy High Representative on Monday.
The new PDHR has extensive experience in Southeast Europe. Since April 2002 he has been US Ambassador in Skopje . Previous US embassy posts have included Sofia and Belgrade (where he worked on the negotiations leading up to the Dayton Peace Agreement). In addition, Ambassador Butler served with the OSCE in Kosovo in 1993.
Ambassador Butler joined the US diplomatic service in 1976. From 1997 to 1999 he was Director for European Affairs on the White House National Security Council, in which capacity he was responsible for Presidential involvement in achieving the “Good Friday Agreement,” which forged a broadly supported constitutional settlement in Northern Ireland after decades of conflict.
Ambassador Butler studied at Bowdoin College in Maine , the University of Michigan and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University . He is married with one son.
Ambassador Butler is a licensed ice-hockey referee.