The US Ambassador to Macedonia

This picture features the US Ambassador to Macedonia, Gillian Milovanovic with the scarf on, Michael Orlansky, to her left, the Embassy Public Affairs Officer, and the Mayor of the City of Skopje on her right. The young woman whose long curly hair you see leaning over is Marija, a lovely young woman employed by the American Corner and acting that day as the translator for the Ambassador.

On Thursday, January 26th, I was at the American Corner from 11:00 to 2pm for its one year anniversary. I had a chance to meet the US Ambassador, a very congenial and warm woman . She has been here since last summer when Ambassador Lawrence Butler was assigned to the Bosnia High Command. She spoke at the celebration, as did the Mayor of Skopje and the Director of the City Library where the American Corner is located. A string quartet played afterwards and food (i.e. bread in various forms) and juice was served by uniformed waiters. Hordes of press were present, with each local TV station, several radio stations and newspaper photographers all covering the event. Fortunately, I guess, it is a slow news time here.

Here is some information from the Embassy about the Ambasssador. She has has quite an impressive career:

In her previous position, Ms. Milovanovic served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, from August 2002 until July 2005. Before that, she served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, from July 1999 to August 2002.

Ambassador Milovanovic joined the Foreign Service in 1978. Her early assignments included a tour as an International Relations Officer in the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, Office of Fisheries Affairs. She served as Vice Consul in Sydney, Australia; Staff Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs; and as a Political Officer in Paris following a year of study at the French Ecole Nationale d'Administration.

In 1987, Ms. Milovanovic joined the U.S. Consulate General in Cape Town, South Africa, where she served as Political-Economic Officer and Deputy Consul General. From 1990 to 1994, she was Political-Military Affairs Officer and Deputy Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Brussels. From 1994 to 1997, she served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Gaborone, Botswana. She was Director of the Office of Nordic and Baltic Affairs at the Department of State from 1997 to 1999.

Ambassador Milovanovic is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, and the Ecole Nationale d'Administration. She is the recipient of two Superior Honor Awards and two Meritorious Honor Awards from the Department of State.

Ms. Milovanovic was born in New York. She is married and has two daughters.