The new US Ambassador, Tom Udall has presented his credentials to Samoa’s Head of State Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II.
The event was held virtually from the US Embassy in New Zealand.
President Joseph Biden nominated Tom Udall to be the Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa on 16 July last year.
The U.S. diplomat has had a distinguished career in public service championing the interests of Native American groups as well as conservation and environmental protection.
He served New Mexico in elected office for more than two decades as the state’s attorney general and in the House of Representatives where he sat on committees covering Interior, Environment, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and on the Subcommittee on Legislative Branch.
Following his election as Senator for New Mexico in 2008, his Senate Committee assignments included appropriations, foreign relations, commerce, science and transportation, and Indian affairs.
Ambassador Udall also served on the Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe and was a member of the International Narcotics Control Caucus.
Prior to elected office, he served as a federal prosecutor and Chief Counsel to the New Mexico Department of Health and Environment. In 2018, Ambassador Udall received the Sierra Club’s top award for public officials, the Edgar Wayburn Award, for his leadership on environmental issues.