Robert W. Thomas

Robert W. Thomas, a career officer of the United States Foreign Service, joined the Office of the Secretary of State as Deputy Executive Secretary in April of 2023.  Prior to this assignment, he served as Charge d’affaires, a.i. at the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic since January 20, 2021, after serving as Deputy Chief of Mission there from July of 2020. He previously served as United States Consul General to Montreal, Canada.  Mr. Thomas has also served assignments abroad in Mexico, Côte d’Ivoire, Canada (twice), and Mauritania.  His domestic service includes multiple assignments in the Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs and Executive Secretariat.  He was also deployed as part of the Department’s crisis response team in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake.  He speaks French and Spanish. Mr. Thomas studied comparative religion and political science at Emory & Henry College, a small liberal-arts university in the Appalachian Mountains of southwestern Virginia.  He is married to Mr. Juan Garcia, a communications professional.