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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary


For Immediate Release May 9, 2000
               PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES MARJORIE RANSOM AS
                U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE REPUBLIC OF YEMEN

     The President announced today his intent to nominate Marjorie

Ransom to be U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Yemen.

Ms. Marjorie Ransom, of Washington, DC, is a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Career Minister. For the past three years, she has directed the Department of State's three Foreign Press Centers in Washington, New York and Los Angeles. She was Deputy Chief of Mission in Damascus, Syria, 1995-1997, and Minister Counselor for Public Affairs in Cairo, Egypt, 1992-1995. In Washington, Ms. Ransom was Chief of the U.S. Information Agency's (USIA) Foreign Service Personnel for two years and Executive Assistant to the Counselor of USIA for a similar period. She also served as Deputy of the Near East Division in the Voice of America. In previous overseas tours she was Public Affairs Officer in Damascus, Abu Dhabi and Sana'a. A specialist in the Middle East, she also lived and worked in Amman, Beirut, Jeddah and Teheran.

Ms. Ransom received her Bachelor's Degree in History from Trinity College in Washington, D.C. and her Master's in History and a Certificate in Middle Eastern Studies from Columbia University. Selected as a Jefferson Fellow by USIA, Ms. Ransom completed a year of American Studies at George Washington University. She received a Superior Honor Award for her work as Public Affairs Officer in Syria and a Meritorious Honor Award for her work on the Egypt Today program in Washington, D.C. She is fluent in Arabic.

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