KATHMANDU: Dean R. Thompson has been nominated American Ambassador to Nepal.

The White House, in a statement, said American President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Dean Thompson as Ambassador to Nepal,

Thompson will replace incumbent Ambassador Randy Berry.

Thompson is a career diplomat of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor. Currently, he serves as the State Department’s Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs and was the acting Assistant Secretary from 2020 to 2021.

Earlier, Thompson was the Deputy Chief of Mission of the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and the Deputy Chief of Mission and Charge d’affaires of the US Embassy in Bucharest, Romania.

Thompson also was the Consul General of the U.S. Consulate in Kolkata, India.

Thompson earned a B.A. degree from Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, a M.A. degree from the University of Maryland School of Public Affairs, and a M.S. in National Security Strategy from the National War College, National Defense University. His foreign languages include Romanian and Bengali.