David McKean has been confirmed by the US senate to be the next ambassador to Luxembourg.

Before he can take on his mandate officially, Washington will formally request an audience with Luxembourg’s royal court and McKean will need to present his credentials to Grand Duke Henri. It is thought that he could take up his post as early as mid-March. However, no date has been announced.

David McKean joined the U.S. Department of State in April 2012 as a Senior Advisor (to Secretary of State Clinton) and is currently the Director of Policy Planning.

David McKean has been the Staff Director for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a Key player in laying the groundwork for the Senator's presidential campaign in 2004. He was also a co-chairman of the Senator’s presidential transition team. He is the author of three books on American political history. In 2011 he was a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

As well as having served as a CEO of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation in Boston before 2011 he has also taught at the Waterford Kamhlaba School in Swaziland from 1981-1982 as well as held several political positions. He was the Chief of Staff in Senator John Kerry's personal office from 1999 to 2008 and served as the Minority Staff Director for the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation in 1997 and 1998.

Barak Obama nominated David McKean as a candidate in October.

As part of McKean’s confirmation hearings in December, he told the senate that if confirmed he would make trade promotion and direct investment from Luxembourg into the United States a priority, so that the market for U.S can increase. A major component of that effort would be to advance discussions on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. McKean also confirmed that he has visited over 65 countries in his life time and that Luxembourg was the first country he visited in 1972.

Alison Shorter-Lawrence is the current Chargé d’Affaires, ad interim at the U.S. Embassy in Luxembourg following the departure of former Ambassador Robert Mandell on February 27 last year (2015). Robert Mandell was ambassador of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg for a little over three years.

photo from the US Department of State