Laura Farnsworth Dogu


Laura Farnsworth Dogu is an author, diplomat and former United States Ambassador to Nicaragua. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on May 14, 2015 and confirmed by the Senate on August 5, 2015.

Early life and education

Dogu is a resident of Texas. Her father was a career Naval officer. Dogu earned a B.A., B.B.A. and M.B.A. from Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She later earned a M.S. from the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy in 2007.

Career

Dogu began her career as a marketing representative for IBM, where she worked for five years. After joining the Foreign Service, she became a consular officer at the embassy in San Salvador in 1991. She then served as a consular and political officer at the American Embassy in Turkey. Returning to Washington, D.C. in 1996, she was assigned to the State Department operations center. A year later she became a staff assistant in the Bureau of Consular Affairs. International assignments followed in Egypt, Turkey and Mexico. When she was nominated by President Obama to become U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua, she was serving as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.
Dogu is also an author. Along with Taylor Larimore, Mel Lindauer and Richard Ferri, Dogu is a co-author of The Bogleheads' Guide to Retirement Planning. She is one of the leaders of the online Bogleheads.

Personal life

Dogu is married. She and her husband Aydin have two children. In addition to English, she speaks Spanish, Turkish and Arabic.