24 Facts About Bernadette Meehan

Bernadette M Meehan was born on 1975 and is an American diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Chile from 2022 to 2025.

Bernadette Meehan previously worked as Executive Vice President of Global Programs for the Obama Foundation.

Bernadette Meehan served as spokesperson for the United States National Security Council during the Obama Administration, and as a Foreign Service Officer with the Department of State for more than a decade.

Bernadette Meehan graduated from Boston College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science.

Bernadette Meehan joined the United States Department of State as a Foreign Service officer in 2004, and began her new career as a consular officer at the US Embassy in Bogota, Colombia.

Bernadette Meehan survived a kidnapping and physical assault by armed men in Bogota in April 2006.

Bernadette Meehan served in Colombia for two years before volunteering to serve in Iraq.

Bernadette Meehan worked at the US Embassy in Baghdad from 2006 to 2007 as a Consular Officer, and for several months as Special Assistant to Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad.

Bernadette Meehan was wounded in Baghdad, by a rocket fired by an Iran-backed militia.

In September 2007 Bernadette Meehan left Iraq to study Arabic at the Department of State's Foreign Service Institute in Virginia to prepare for her next tour as the public affairs officer at the US Consulate General in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Bernadette Meehan was selected in 2007 as a Powell Fellow, recognized as one of the 12 most promising future leaders in the Department of State.

Bernadette Meehan then became Special Assistants to the Secretary of State.

In 2012, Bernadette Meehan was detailed to the White House National Security Council and in 2014 she became the spokeswoman for the National Security Council.

Bernadette Meehan was recalled to the NSC to oversee the planning for President Obama's historic trip to Havana, Cuba.

Bernadette Meehan then remained at the White House as a Senior Advisor to President Obama until January 2017.

In February 2017, Bernadette Meehan departed the Foreign Service to serve as the Chief International Officer at the Obama Foundation, a Chicago-based nonprofit organization founded by President and Mrs Obama that seeks out to inspire, empower and connect people to change their world for the better.

Bernadette Meehan eventually became the Executive Vice President for Global Programs and a member of the Foundation's Executive Committee.

Bernadette Meehan served on the board of advisors for Georgetown University's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, within the Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Bernadette Meehan served on the board of advisors for Hostage US, a non-profit organization that supports families of Americans taken hostage abroad and supports hostages when they return home.

On July 9,2021, President Joe Biden nominated Bernadette Meehan to be the next United States ambassador to Chile.

Bernadette Meehan was sworn in on August 29,2022 and presented her credentials to President Gabriel Boric on September 30,2022.

Bernadette Meehan made the front page of El Mercurio, Chile's newspaper of record, when she completed a skydive with US and Chilean Special Forces as part of multi-nation joint military exercise Southern Star.

Bernadette Meehan was lauded for multiple commercial and regulatory successes including passage of the US-Chile Bilateral Tax Treaty in both the US and Chilean Senate after more than ten years pending in the US Senate; announcement of Google as lead investor of the Humboldt Cable, the first subsea cable connecting South American and the Asia-Pacific; and negotiation of a side letter to the US-Chile Free Trade Agreement protecting market access for US dairy and meat exports using common names.

Bernadette Meehan is married to Evan S Medeiros, the Penner Family Chair in Asian Studies at Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service.