Ambassador Charles L. English served in a variety of diplomatic assignments as a Foreign Service Officer in the Department of State over a 35-year career, in Washington and overseas.  Beginning as a consular officer in Panama, he worked to assure the smooth implementation of the newly-ratified Panama Canal treaties.  As an economic officer in Greece, not long after Greece’s accession to the European Community (now European Union), he worked to facilitate bilateral trade while reporting on the country’s deep systemic weaknesses.  In Hungary as economic counselor shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, he helped speed privatization of Communist-era state-owned industry, encouraged significant U.S. investment, and pushed for strong anti-corruption measures.  As Deputy Chief of Mission in Croatia during its post-Yugoslav-wars' transition, he promoted democratic development and the reintegration of Serb-minority refugees.  Serving as Ambassador to Bosnia-Herzegovina, he worked to reconcile ethnic groups still deeply divided after a bitter three-year war.

In various domestic assignments, Mr. English first served as a watch officer in the State Department’s Operations Center.  As a development economist, he successfully encouraged the Reagan White House to allow the U.S. to join the African Development Bank.  As an aide to successive Deputy Secretaries and to the Under Secretary for International Security Affairs, he managed international security assistance and arms sales, in particular during the first Gulf War.  As Policy Director for State’s International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Bureau, he oversaw U.S. efforts to rebuild police forces in a democratically-restored Haiti and in post-war Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.  As Director of State’s European Union and Balkans Affairs offices, he helped smooth the path for Kosovo’s independence. And as Dean of the State Department’s School of Leadership and Management, he trained and encouraged a new generation of  leaders in the Foreign Service.

Recalled to service after retirement, Ambassador English was sent to Kabul, Afghanistan in 2014 to head the Secretariat of the International Police Coordination Board, a multinational effort to funnel international assistance to Afghanistan’s Ministry of Interior and National Police. He returned to Washington in September 2015.  

Ambassador English is a graduate of Xaverian High School, Class of 1969, of Princeton University, Class of 1973, and studied international economics and business at New York University's Stern School of Business.  He is married to Patricia Espey-English, and they have two adult children.