Term of Appointment: 08/11/2006 to present

Ambassador Robert Stephen Ford, of Maryland, is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service.  He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Ambassador to Algiers on May 27, 2006, and sworn-in on August 11, 2006. 

Ambassador Ford served from 2004 until 2006 as the Political Counselor to the U.S. Embassy Baghdad, Iraq where he worked on the Iraqi elections and the preparation of the new Iraq constitution.  Ambassador Ford was Deputy Chief of Mission to Bahrain from 2001 until 2004 when the U.S. and Bahrain negotiated a free trade agreement.

After joining the Foreign Service in 1985 Ambassador Ford also served in Izmir, Cairo, Algiers, and Yaounde.

He received the 2005 James Clement Dunn Award for outstanding work at the mid-level in the Foreign Service as well as numerous other Department awards.

Ambassador Ford earned a masters Degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in 1983.  He was a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco from 1980 -1982.

Ambassador Ford speaks German, Turkish, French and Arabic.  His wife, Clare Alison Barkley, is also a Foreign Service Officer.  They make their permanent home in Baltimore.