Ambassador Jack Markell 

Ambassador Jack Markell
U.S. Ambassador

Jack Markell was confirmed by the Senate on July 27, 2023, as the U.S. Ambassador-designate to Italy and San Marino.

Since January 14, 2022, Markell was the U.S. Representative to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), with rank of Ambassador, where he led U.S. engagement at the organization, including on key issues such as technology governance, sustainable infrastructure, and engagement with state, county, and local governments.

Markell previously served as the White House Coordinator for Operation Allies Welcome where he worked to ensure vulnerable Afghans who passed screening and vetting reviews were safely and effectively resettled in the United States.  Markell also served two terms as Governor of Delaware from 2009-2017, Chair of both the National Governors Association and the Democratic Governors Association, as well as President of the Council of State Governments.

During his tenure as Governor, Delaware emerged from the great recession with the strongest job growth in the region and among the best private sector wage growth in the country.  Governor Markell led significant investments in improved early childhood education, language immersion programs, heightened college access for low-income students, and some of the most aggressive workforce development efforts in the country.  Previously, he served ten years as Delaware’s State Treasurer.

Prior to public service, Governor Markell served as senior vice president for corporate development at Nextel, among other positions in the private sector, including at Comcast Corporation and McKinsey and Company.  Governor Markell served on the boards of a number of publicly traded and privately held corporations as well as on a number of non-profit organizations including Upstream USA, Delaware State University, Annie E. Casey Foundation, and Jobs for America’s Graduates. He is a Henry Crown Fellow and a Rodel Fellow at the Aspen Institute.

Governor Markell was born in 1960 in Newark, Delaware. He earned an undergraduate degree from Brown University and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He and his wife Carla have two adult children, Molly and Michael.

The U.S. Mission to Italy

The U.S. Mission to Italy conducts diplomatic relations with the Republic of Italy and coordinates the activities of all U.S. Government personnel serving in Italy.

Bilateral cooperation includes political, economic, commercial, defense and security, educational, and exchange activities. The Embassy and Consulates General also provides consular services, including visas for visitors to the United States and passports and other services for United States citizens in Italy.

The United States Mission in Italy comprises the American Embassy in Rome and the Consulates General in Milan, Florence, and Naples.

The many agencies of the United States Government that constitute the Mission work as a team to advance American interests and promote relations between the American and Italian government and people. They shape and carry out American relations with Italy, have an active public diplomacy program, provide consular services to American citizens and visa services to citizens of Italy and other countries who wish to visit or who qualify to immigrate to the United States, and promote trade and investment between our two countries.

They work with Italian counterparts to protect shared political, economic, and security interests through multilateral organizations including NATO, the United Nations, and a host of other important bodies.

Officials of the Department of State oversee traditional diplomacy and provide consular services in Rome, Milan, Florence, and Naples.Commerce Department representatives are available to American exporters who wish to increase their activity in the Italian market, and officials of the Department of Agriculture at the Embassy in Rome offer similar services to their clients.

United States Diplomatic Relationship

The formation of the modern Italian state began in 1861 with the unification of most of the peninsula under the House of Savoy (Piedmont-Sardinia) into the Kingdom of Italy. Italy incorporated Venetia and the former Papal States (including Rome) by 1871 following the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). Prior to Italian unification (also known as the Risorgimento), the United States had diplomatic relations with the main entities of the Italian peninsula: the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and the Papal States.

With the exception of the World War II years when Benito Mussolini’s government declared war upon the United States (1941-43), the United States has had warm relations with the Kingdom of Italy and, after 1946, its successor, the Republic of Italy. Currently, the United States and Italy share strong bilateral relations. Italy is a member of NATO and is a founding member of the European Union.