Gregory John Newell currently serves as the President of International Commerce Development Corporation (1993–present).

Biography

Newell is a former United States Ambassador to Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 (1985–1989) and a U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs (1982–1985). Previously, he served in the White House

White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

 as a Special Assistant to the President and Director of Presidential Appointments under Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

 in 1981–1982. Before this he was a Staff Assistant to the President under Gerald Ford

Gerald Ford

Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...

.

He began his political career as a conservative Republican working for President Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

 (1972–1973). Between White House assignments Newell worked for U.S. Senator Bob Dole

Bob Dole

Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...

 (R-KS) and Pennsylvania's Republican Governor Richard Thornburgh.

Newell was raised in Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

, and California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. He received his Political Science and International Relations degree from Brigham Young University

Brigham Young University

Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...

 and completed the Senior Managers in Government program at Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

. As a 19-21 year-old he served a 2½ year mission in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On April 16, 2011, the Church announced Newell's three-year assignment to preside over the Church's mission in Sweden. His tenure began on July 1, 2011.

He is married with 6 children.

Praise

When Newell was sent to Sweden as the nation's youngest ambassador at age 36, President Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

 commented,"Ambassador Newell represents America with imagination, energy and skill...he has my full personal confidence." Former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz said of Newell, "His contribution to our foreign policy has been important...he deserves much credit for substantial improvement in U.S. relations."

Criticism

In 1983 through 1985, Newell criticized UNESCO for holding meetings on the free flow of information in which the Russians indicate that some control of communication was necessary. This, of course, was not the position of UNESCO, but Newell insisted that the U.S. withdraw from UNESCO, which it did in 1985 (to return later under George W. Bush). Later, when Newell was nominated to the ambassadorship to Sweden, Democratic Senator Joseph Biden expressed reservations over the choice of the nominee with the following words: "I find it difficult to be sending an ambassador to Sweden who doesn't know how many countries are in NATO." Despite this statement, Newell's nomination was favorably reported out of the Committee on Foreign Relations onto the floor of the U.S. Senate where there was "unanimous consent that the President be immediately notified that the Senate has given its consent to this nomination."

Sources

Presidential Appointments and Nominations, 3/12/1985;
Department of States "Appointment of Gregory J. Newell" No. 184, 6/4/1982;
"Ronald Reagan's Foreign Service" Jai Bird, 1984;
Presidential Appointments and Nominations, 10/8/1985;
Presidential Documents, 10/14/1985, Volume 21, Number 41;
Committee on Foreign Relations United States Senate Nomination Hearing, 11/21/1985;
Congressional Record Senate, S-17126, 12/6/1985;