Chamber welcomes senior US embassy appointment
Transatlantic business leaders have welcomed a key appointment at the US Embassy in London.
Yael Lempert (pictured) has taken up the role of Charg� d 'Affaires - having previously served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the embassy.
The position of Charg� d 'Affaires is effectively the deputy to the US Ambassador to the UK, a role which is currently vacant with president Joe Biden yet to appoint a successor to Robert 'Woody ' Johnson.
Ms Lempert took up her assignment as Deputy Chief of Mission at the embassy in London in 2019.
She is a career member of the US Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, and served as acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Egypt and North Africa from June 2017 to December 2018.
Ms Lempert was the senior director for the Levant, Israel and Egypt at the National Security Council from 2014 to 2017, and also served as Special Assistant to the president from 2015 to 2017.
Prior to her assignment at the NSC, she served for three years as the deputy principal officer at the US Consulate General in Jerusalem.
She also worked at the US Embassy in Libya from 2009 to 2011, where she spent more than half of her tour as the acting Deputy Chief of Mission.
Her other previous assignments include director for Iraq at the National Security Council, Governance Officer at the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, Iraq, Special Assistant for South Asian and Near Eastern Affairs to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and tours in the Department of State 's Bureau of Nonproliferation and the US Consulate General in Shanghai.
Mandy Haque, the Chamber's international director, said: "Yael is a familiar figure to the Transatlantic Chamber having served as Deputy Chief of Mission since 2019 and I had the pleasure of meeting her during past visits to the Embassy in London.
"The Transatlantic Chamber 's close links with the US Embassy are vitally important in our aim to develop trade between Greater Birmingham and US businesses and we look forward to working closer with Yael over the coming months to build on those links."