Ambassador Lawrence Edward Butler

Ambassador Butler was sworn-in as American Ambassador to Macedonia on April 15, 2002, and presented his credentials to Macedonian President Trajkovski on April 22, 2002.

Ambassador Butler has been a member of the U.S. Senior Foreign Service since 1997, joining the Foreign Service in 1976. From 1997-1999 he was at the White House on the National Security Council staff as Director for European Affairs where he was directly responsible for Presidential involvement in achieving the Belfast "Good Friday" agreement in the Northern Ireland peace process. He also covered the European Union, preparing the twice-yearly U.S.-EU Summits, as well as handling relations with the Nordic states, UK, Ireland and Germany

Ambassador Butler was Deputy Chief of Mission in the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark, in Dublin, Ireland and Belgrade, Serbia-Montenegro. In Belgrade he worked on the Bosnian peace process that culminated in the Dayton Accord in December, 1995. He became acting Chief of Mission for most of 1996, assisting in implementing the agreement and opening the first U.S. Office in Kosovo. In 1993, he was on special assignment with the OSCE mission to the former Yugoslavia, where he opened the Pec, Kosovo branch office to report and mediate human rights complaints. Other overseas postings include two tours in Helsinki dealing with economic and trade policy, a tour in Bulgaria, first as Economic/Commercial Officer and than Political/Economic Chief, and Brasilia as an economic policy officer. State Department Washington assignments include Deputy Director of the office responsible for EU and OECD Affairs, Special Assistant to the Undersecretary for Political Affairs and Senior Watch Officer in the Secretary's Operations Center.

Ambassador Butler earned his B.A. at Bowdoin College, attended the University of Michigan's MBA program, and did graduate work in economics at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School. His wife, Linda d'Obry Willemoes Butler, accompanies Ambassador Butler. Their son, Charles, is a business management major at George Mason University in Virginia.