Ambassador Kevin McGuire

Kevin McGuire joined the Foreign Service in 1966. He served as Ambassador to Namibia; Economic Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission in Korea; Economic Minister in Italy; in economic positions in our embassies in Greece and Ireland as well as in the Economics and
Business and International Organizations Bureaus in Washington. Other assignments included Director of Senior Assignments; and tours in Gabon as Deputy Chief of Mission and Charge d’Affaires; and in Adelaide, Australia as Consul.
McGuire spent many years in trade diplomacy. He was a member of the US team involved in negotiating the Free Trade Agreement with Canada, the precursor of the North American Free Trade Agreement. He was also involved in the Tokyo and Uruguay Round negotiations, which
addressed tariff levels and non tariff barriers, provided dispute mechanisms and protection for intellectual property rights and in general fostered an exponential growth in international trade and investment. He was Deputy Head of Delegation at UNCTAD IX, where great progress was
made on promoting the adoption of market based principles by developing countries. In Korea he played a leading and successful role in fighting unfair trade practices.
As Chief of Mission in Namibia, he was part of the US effort to initiate PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which has had such a great impact in Namibia and other participating nations in confronting the threat of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
After retirement in 2004 he was a senior inspector in the Office of the Inspector General. Also in retirement, as the Director of the Rangel International Affairs Program in its formative years, he made a significant contribution to improving diversity in the foreign affairs community. He
did graduate level studies at Indiana University, Harvard University and the National War College. He was the recipient of many performance based awards at State, and a CIGIE Award from the interagency Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency.
He is married to Kay Cuddy McGuire, who accompanied him on all his tours and contributed greatly to his efforts to defend US interests