Michael J. Murphy (diplomat)

Murphy earned a Bachelor of Arts from Hamilton College where he was also involved with Phi Beta Kappa.[1]

Murphy is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor where he has served for 30 years.[2] From 2017 to 2018, served as director of the office for European security & political-military affairs in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. From 2015 to 2017, he served as the associate dean of the leadership and management school at the National Foreign Affairs Training Center. From 2015 to 2017, Murphy was the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Gaborone, Botswana and also as Chargé d’Affaires, a.i., in Botswana from February 2014 to January 2015. From 2009 to 2012, he was deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Pristina, Kosovo[3] and served for three years as political counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Other overseas postings include London; Yaoundé, Cameroon; and Lagos, Nigeria. In Washington, D.C., he served as chief of staff to both the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs and the Director General of the Foreign Service.[1] He also served as desk officer for Bulgaria and for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.[4] From June 18, 2018 until September 24, 2021, he has served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.[3] He speaks Serbo-Croatian and French.[1]

On July 16, 2021, President Joe Biden announced the nomination of Murphy to be the next United States Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina. On July 20, 2021, his nomination was sent to the United States Senate.[5] On October 5, 2021, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.[6] On October 19, 2021, his nomination was reported favorably out of committee.[7] His nomination is pending before the full United States Senate.