Geoffrey Pyatt | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 2ndAssistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources | |
| In office September 19, 2022 – January 20, 2025 | |
| President | Joe Biden |
| Preceded by | Francis R. Fannon |
| United States Ambassador to Greece | |
| In office October 24, 2016 – May 10, 2022 | |
| President |
|
| Preceded by | David Pearce |
| Succeeded by | George J. Tsunis |
| United States Ambassador to Ukraine | |
| In office July 30, 2013 – August 18, 2016 | |
| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | John Tefft |
| Succeeded by | Marie Yovanovitch |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Geoffrey Ross Pyatt (1963-11-16)November 16, 1963 (age 62) San Diego,California, U.S. |
| Spouse | Mary D. Pyatt |
| Children | 2 |
| Parents | |
| Education | University of California, Irvine (BA) Yale University (MA) |
Geoffrey Ross Pyatt (born November 16, 1963)[1] is a United States diplomat who served asAssistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources from 2022 to 2025. He was previouslyUnited States Ambassador to Greece andUkraine. Pyatt's career in theU.S. State Department has led to posts inAsia,Europe, andCentral America.
Pyatt was born inLa Jolla,[2][3] a suburb ofSan Diego,California,[1] the son ofBud Pyatt andMary MacKenzie.[4] His father was amathematician and his mother was amezzo-soprano singer. He received a bachelor's degree inpolitical studies in 1985 at theUniversity of California, Irvine, and a master's degree ininternational relations atYale University in 1987.[1][5]
Pyatt started his diplomatic career inHonduras from 1990 until 1992 as vice-consul and economic officer inTegucigalpa. He was deputy chief of diplomatic mission inIndia in 2006 and 2007. After that, he worked as deputy chief of U.S. mission toInternational Atomic Energy Agency and other international organizations inVienna. Pyatt served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of theBureau of South and Central Asian Affairs from May 2010 until July 2013.[6]
Pyatt took theOath of Office ofUnited States Ambassador to Ukraine on July 30, 2013 in theHarry S Truman Building of theUnited States Department of State inWashington, D.C.Ukrainian PresidentViktor Yanukovych accepted Pyatt's credentials on August 15, 2013.[6] After his appointment, Pyatt started actively studying theUkrainian language. On October 15, 2013, Pyatt attended an international conference on fightinganti-Semitism inKyiv, but could not address the audience at the event due to theUnited States federal government shutdown of 2013.[7]
During the2014 Ukrainian revolution against Ukraine's PresidentVictor Yanukovych, Pyatt became part ofa diplomatic scandal in February 2014, when his conversation from the previous month with the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State,Victoria Nuland, was apparently intercepted and uploaded toYouTube. The conversation included Nuland saying, "Fuck the EU", which were harshly criticized by thePresident of the European CouncilHerman van Rompuy and byGerman ChancellorAngela Merkel.[8][9][10] The call followed an offer made on January 25, 2014 by Ukrainian president Yanukovych to include two members of the opposition in his government to calm the Maidan protests in Ukraine, one being that of his Prime Minister.[11] Nuland and Pyatt voiced their opinions of this offer, specifically on the post of Prime Minister, giving their opinion on the suitability and role of several opposition personalities. OfVitali Klitschko, Pyatt said, "Let him stay out and do his political homework and stuff I'm just thinking in terms of sort of the process moving ahead we want to keep the moderate democrats together". He also proposed "some kind of outreach to Yanukovych" and Nuland mentioned that then-Vice President Joe Biden would be helpful in that regard. He further said, "We want to try to get somebody with an international personality to come out here and help to midwife this thing" (a reference to Nuland's earlier suggestion of Robert Serry of the UN).[12] This led to speculation in Russia and in the United States that the U.S. Government was interfering with Ukraine's sovereignty.[13][14][15]
After President Yanukovych's dismissal by the Ukrainian Parliament,[16] Pyatt characterised pro-Russian separatist rebels inDonetsk andLuhansk as "terrorists".[17]
On September 25, 2015, during his speech at Odesa Financial Forum, Pyatt criticized Ukrainian Prosecutor's office.[citation needed]
On May 19, 2016, he was nominated by U.S. PresidentBarack Obama to serve asUnited States Ambassador to Greece. He was replaced byMarie L. Yovanovitch in Ukraine.[18] He was confirmed as the Ambassador to Greece on July 14, 2016. He was sworn in September 2016. He presented his credentials on October 24, 2016. He served in the post from October 24, 2016, until May 10, 2022.[19][20]
On April 22, 2022, PresidentJoe Biden nominated Pyatt to the position ofAssistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources.[21] The Senate confirmed his nomination on September 15, 2022, and he was sworn in on September 19.[22]
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(November 2023) |
Media related toGeoffrey R. Pyatt at Wikimedia Commons
| Diplomatic posts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | United States Ambassador to Ukraine 2013–2016 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States Ambassador to Greece 2016–2022 | Succeeded by |
 Kingdom of Greece(1868–1924) | |
|---|---|
| Second Hellenic Republic | |
| Kingdom of Greece (1935–1973) Military junta (1967–1974) | |
 Junta-declared Republic (1973–1974) Third Hellenic Republic(1974–present) | |
 | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
