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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release July 1, 1999

            PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES BARBARA J. GRIFFITHS AS
               U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE REPUBLIC OF ICELAND

The President announced today his intent to nominate Barbara J. Griffiths to be U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Iceland.

Ms. Barbara J. Griffiths, of Alexandria, Virginia, is a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor. Since l996 she has served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Finance and Development in the State Department's Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs. Prior to her return to Washington, Ms. Griffiths was the Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, where she worked on market access issues on behalf of U.S. exporters and investors and Korean economic reform. From l990 until July l995, she was involved in Soviet/Russian affairs, first as the head of the economic section of the Office of Soviet Affairs and then as the Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs at the American Embassy in Moscow.

Ms. Griffiths was born and raised in New Jersey. She has a B.A. in Economics from Montclair State College in New Jersey and an M.A. in Economics from the University of Connecticut at Storrs. She is married to David Marion Schoonover, a Career Member of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agriculture Service.

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