Harry K. Thomas Jr.


Harry Keels Thomas Jr. is an American diplomat. He served as the United States Ambassador to Bangladesh, the Philippines, and Zimbabwe.

Career

Thomas joined the Foreign Service in 1984. His early postings included service in the US embassies in New Delhi, India; Harare, Zimbabwe; Kaduna, Nigeria; and Lima, Peru. He also served as Executive Secretary of the United States Department of State, Director General of the U.S. Foreign Service, Director of the State Department Operations Center, and Special Assistant to the then-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
He served as United States Ambassador to Bangladesh and Director General of the United States Foreign Service, Thomas was designated by US President Barack Obama on November 19, 2009 to replace Kristie Kenney as Ambassador to the Philippines—the first African American to serve at that post. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 19, 2010 and presented his credentials to Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on April 27, 2010 He was then nominated and confirmed as the United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe on October 22, 2015. He was sworn in on December 8, 2015. He returned to the United States from Zimbabwe on March 25, 2018 planning to retire from the Foreign Service.

Education

Thomas is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross and earned his Master's of Science in Urban Planning at Columbia University. He also has an honorary doctorate from Loyola University Maryland, where he delivered the commencement address in May 2010.

Controversy

In September 2011 Thomas sparked outrage – while in post as Ambassador to the Philippines – by making the remark that "40% of male tourists to the Philippines go there for sex tourism", without publicly presenting evidence for this remark. He subsequently made a public apology to the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines.

Foreign languages

Thomas speaks Spanish, Hindi, Tagalog, and Bengali.