Amb. Donald T. Bliss (ret.)

Don Bliss was President of UNA-NCA from June 2013 to 2017, and a Board member since 2009. From 2006-2009, he served in Montreal as U.S. Ambassador to the International Civil Aviation Organization, a UN-affiliated international organization, and U.S. Permanent Representative on the ICAO Council. From 1977-2006, he practiced law in the D.C. office of the international law firm of O’Melveny & Myers LLP. Prior government service includes Acting General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Transportation (1975-76), Executive Secretary to the U.S. Agency for International Development (1974-75); Executive Secretary to the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare under the Honorable Elliot L. Richardson (1969-73) and Peace Corps Volunteer lawyer (Micronesia) (1966-68), where he met his wife, Nancy, who has also served as a Director-at-Large of the UNA-NCA. Don serves on the Board of Directors of the Council of American Ambassadors. He has also served on the Boards of The Studio Theatre, Arts for the Aging, Inc. (as president and co-chair), Cedar Lane Unitarian-Universalist Church (as chair), Harleysville Mutual Insurance Company and as Chair of the American Bar Association’s Air and Space Law Forum and President of the national Ripon Society and the Harvard Law School Association of D.C. He co-authored a book with the Honorable William T. Coleman Jr., Counsel for the Situation, Brookings Press (2010). He also has authored, The Law of Airline Customer Relations, Hale & Northam (2005) and Mark Twain’s Tale of Today, CreateSpace, (2012), a book about Mark Twain and politics.