People, Profiles

Berkeley’s Maria Echaveste nominated to become ambassador to Mexico

By Kathleen Maclay

Maria Echaveste, the policy and program development director at the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy at UC Berkeley’s School of Law, has been nominated by President Obama to become the United States’ next ambassador to Mexico.

If confirmed, she will be the first woman to hold the prestigious post.

Maria Echaveste, nominated to become U.S. ambassador to Mexico.

Maria Echaveste, nominated to become U.S. ambassador to Mexico. (UC Berkeley photo)

From 1998 to 2001, Echaveste, an authority on immigration and public policy, served as assistant to President Bill Clinton and his deputy chief of staff, overseeing issues relating to Mexico and Latin America.

More recently, she served as the nation’s special representative to Bolivia from 2009-10  In September 2010, Echaveste joined the board of the U.S./Mexico Foundation to help develop its Mexican-American Leadership Initiative, aiming to engage Americans of Mexican descent to engage constructively with Mexican organizations.

In addition to serving on the Berkeley Law faculty, Echaveste is affiliated with UC Berkeley’s Center for Latin American Studies. She is a graduate of both UC Berkeley and Stanford University.

News stories about today’s nomination have appeared in numerous media outlines, in English on NBCNews and the Washington Post, and in Spanish in La Opinion.