Popp, William W. – Republic of Guatemala – June 2020

REPORT FOR THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

UNITED STATES SENATE

SUBJECT:            Ambassadorial Nomination:  Certificate of Demonstrated Competence — Foreign Service Act, Section 304(a)(4)

POST:                  Republic of Guatemala

CANDIDATE:     William W. Popp

William Popp, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, currently serves as the Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Brasilia, Brazil where he was also the Charge d’affaires a.i. between late 2018 – early 2020.  Previously, he served first as the Political Counselor and then as the Acting Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.  Mr. Popp was the Director of the Office of Regional Economic Policy and Summit Coordination in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs of the State Department.  The experience he has gained in these leadership roles, coupled with his extensive policy knowledge of Latin American developed over the course of 13 years and a half dozen assignments working in or on the region makes him an excellent candidate to be the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Guatemala.

Mr. Popp was selected for Senior Leadership Training and earned a M.S. in National Security Strategy at the National War College in Washington, D.C. from 2012 – 2013.  Prior to that, he was the Deputy Principal Officer and then Acting Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Sao Paulo, Brazil.  He also served as the Deputy Economic Counselor of the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, Colombia.  Mr. Popp worked as the Senior Brazil Desk Officer in the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs and as a Staff Assistant in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs in the State Department.  Other assignments include service at the U.S. Embassies in Luanda, Angola, and Managua, Nicaragua.

Mr. Popp earned his B.A. from Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri and his M.A. from George Washington University, Washington, D.C.  He is the recipient of numerous State Department awards and his foreign languages are Spanish and Portuguese.