Ambassador Lynn Pascoe

Lynn Pascoe held the position of United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs from March 2007 to July 2012. He was Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s chief adviser on global political issues and led the effort to make the UN more effective in conflict prevention. Before joining the United Nations, Mr. Pascoe served for almost forty years in the U.S. Foreign Service. He was U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Indonesia from October 2004 to February 2007. He had previously been Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at the State Department (2001-04) as well as U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia (1999-2001) and U.S. Special Negotiator for Regional Conflicts in the former Soviet Union (1997-98.) From 1993 to 1996, he was Director of the American Institute in Taiwan. He also served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the East Asian and Pacific Bureau of the State Department (1992-93), Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing (1989-92), Deputy Executive Secretary of the Department of State (1986-88), and Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of State (1976-78.) In addition, Mr. Pascoe held positions on the Soviet and China desks and has been posted to Moscow, Hong Kong and Bangkok, as well as to Beijing twice, Taipei, and Kuala Lumpur. He speaks Mandarin Chinese. Born in Missouri in 1943, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Kansas and his Master of Arts from Columbia University. Mr. Pascoe and his wife, Diane, have two grown daughters and four grandchildren.