Glen A. Holden
b. 1927, Oregon -
“The National Museum of American Diplomacy will fulfill an important exhibit of diplomacy and what it accomplishes.”
Images Courtesy of Ambassador Glen A. Holden
Service History
US Ambassador to Jamaica, 1989 – 1993
Biography
Glen Holden was raised in Oregon and attended the University of Oregon. At the University of Oregon, he was president of the Interfraternity Council, a member of Sigma Delta Psi national athletic society, and a member and president of Beta Theta Pi. Upon graduating, he founded Glen Holden Associates, a life insurance agency covering three states. He later served as director of the Variable Annuity Life Insurance Co., where he pioneered the variable annuity product in all states. He was also president and a founder of the Federation of International Polo and traveled to 42 countries in that capacity. Throughout his career, Mr. Holden has owned many financial companies.
In 1989, President George H. W. Bush appointed Glen Holden ambassador to Jamaica. As ambassador to Jamaica, he worked to fulfill an agreement made by President Bush to Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley. The agreement sought to sell several resort hotels owned by the Jamaican government since the 1970s back into private, tax-paying ownership. At the time, Ambassador Holden was aware of a financial lending program established by the US government that financed business projects in Puerto Rico. He believed a similar program could be used in other Caribbean countries to provide a source of funds to help prospective purchases buy these properties. Ambassador Holden then laid out a plan for each property included the funds that would be needed to upgrade the properties into highly desirable resorts. Each buyer would then have to agree to upgrade the properties upon purchase.
Following the successful completion of this project in Jamaica, Ambassador Holden helped fulfill similar projects in other countries. In Haiti, he founded a US grain company that grew and exported grain, thus helping to stimulate Haiti's economy.
Ambassador Holden was married to Gloria Ann McClintock, his college sweetheart, for 75 years. Together they had three children—Glen Holden, Jr., Georgianne Holden Stone, and Geannie Holden Sheller—nine grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.
Ambassador Holden has been a supporter of the Diplomacy Center Foundation and its campaign to complete the National Museum of American Diplomacy since 2014.