2010 LGBT Pride Month: Eric Nelson

2010 LGBT Pride Month: Eric Nelson

Eric Nelson is currently assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad as deputy management counselor of the U.S. Mission in Pakistan. In September 2010, Mr. Nelson will be become the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in San Jose. Mr. Nelson served as the U.S. consul general in Munich, Germany from 2006-2009. As consul general, he worked to expand and strengthen partnerships between Bavaria and the United States, focusing on security cooperation, citizen diplomacy, and business and investment ties. His leadership in the usage of new media technologies for outreach and operations while in Germany won honorable mention in 2009 from the State Department’s Innovation in the Usage of Technology Award committee. Mr. Nelson also received the “IDIZEM Dialogue Prize 2008” in Munich in recognition of his engagement for inter-religious and intercultural dialogue.

Since joining the Foreign Service in 1990, Mr. Nelson has also served in Washington in the Office of Global Support Services and Innovation and as a special assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Administration, as the management consul in Milan, Budget and Finance Attaché in Mexico City, and as a vice consul in Frankfurt and Santo Domingo. He has received the Department of State's Superior Honor Award three times and the Meritorious Honor Award six times. In 1992, Mr. Nelson was a founding member of Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies (GLIFAA).

Mr. Nelson began his career in public service as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching math and science in Liberia, West Africa from 1984-1985. Before joining the Foreign Service, he was a marketing and finance consultant to U.S. Agency for International Development projects in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Liberia.

Mr. Nelson, a resident of Texas, graduated from Rice University of Houston, Texas, in 1983 with a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering. In 1988, Mr. Nelson received a Master of business administration degree from the University of Texas at Austin. He is fluent in Italian, German and Spanish.