Charles Rivkin | |
---|---|
Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs | |
In office February 13, 2014 – January 20, 2017 |
|
President | Barack Obama |
Preceded by | Jose Fernandez |
United States Ambassador to France | |
In office August 3, 2009 – November 20, 2013 |
|
President | Barack Obama |
Preceded by | Craig Stapleton |
Succeeded by | Jane Hartley |
United States Ambassador to Monaco | |
In office August 3, 2009 – November 20, 2013 |
|
President | Barack Obama |
Preceded by | Craig Stapleton |
Succeeded by | Jane Hartley |
Personal details | |
Born | 1962 (age 54–55) |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | Susan Tolson |
Alma mater |
Yale University Harvard University |
Charles Hammerman Rivkin (born 1962) is the former Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs from 2014 to 2017. Confirmed by the U.S. Senate on February 12, 2014, Rivkin assumed office the following day, and was sworn in publicly by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on April 15, 2014. Rivkin's confirmation marks the first time a U.S. ambassador and former CEO has ever led the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs at the U.S. State Department. On April 28th, 2017 it was announced that Rivkin would succeed Chris Dodd as the chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, effective September 5th of that year.[1]
Prior to his appointment, Rivkin served for more than four years as the United States Ambassador to France and Monaco where he led America’s first and one of its largest diplomatic missions, which has six constituent posts throughout France and represents over 50 U.S. government agencies and sections.
Of Russian Jewish heritage, Rivkin is one of four children of William R. Rivkin, the United States Ambassador to Luxembourg under President John F. Kennedy and United States Ambassador to Senegal and Gambia under President Lyndon B. Johnson; and Enid Hammerman, who was the daughter of the owner of one of the largest children's clothing manufacturers at the time. Rivkin's father died in 1967 when he was 5 and his mother remarried Chicago obstetrician Dr. John S. Long in 1971.
Rivkin earned a B.A. from Yale University in 1984 where he graduated with distinction in political science and international relations. During his time at Yale, he was a member of two of Yale's a cappella groups: the underclassmen Spizzwinks and the all-senior Whiffenpoofs. He then earned an M.B.A. from Harvard University in 1988.