FSO Robert C. Heath
Biography
Robert “Bob” C. Heath is the executive director of both the Diplomacy Center Foundation and the Public Diplomacy Council, a nonprofit committed to the academic study, professional practice, and responsible advocacy of public diplomacy. He is a trustee of the American Council for International Education—a nonprofit that administrates major international exchange programs—and treasurer of the US Ukraine Foundation.
In 1997, Bob completed 27 years as a career diplomat in the US Foreign Service that included assignments for the US Information Agency (USIA) in seven countries on four continents. His last assignment was from 1994 to 1997 as director of the United States Information Service in Kyiv, Ukraine. During that period, he also occasionally served as deputy chief of mission.
From 1983 to 1984, Bob was the spokesperson and public affairs advisor for the US delegation to the Negotiations on Nuclear and Space Arms in Geneva, Switzerland, and again from 1989 until the signing of the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START I) Treaty in Moscow, Russia, on July 31, 1991.
In addition, Bob served as the spokesperson and press attaché at the US embassy in Bonn, West Germany; director of the American Cultural Centers in Cape Town, South Africa, and Karachi, Pakistan; and assistant information officer in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).
Bob also served in the Washington, DC, headquarters of USIA as deputy director of the Office of Policy Guidance; senior policy officer for Arms Control, Security Issues and European Affairs; policy guidance coordinator; and regional projects coordinator for Africa.
He holds a BA in physical science from the University of California at Riverside and an MA in international studies from American University in Washington, DC.
Bob was born in Loma Linda, California, in 1938 and has resided in Washington, DC, since 1965 when not on assignment overseas.