Ambassador Andrew Young joined the International Student Management Office at the National Defense University as Director in June 2023. He previously served as Deputy Commander for Civil-Military Engagement, United States Africa Command (2020-2023) and U.S. Ambassador to Burkina Faso (2016-2020). In over 30 years in public service on four continents, he served in Burkina Faso, Mali, Korea, France, New Zealand, Burma, India, and Hong Kong. In Washington, he served as Foreign Policy Advisor in the U.S. Senate, Senior Watch Officer in the State Department's Operations Center, Desk Officer for Italy, San Marino, India and Bhutan and at the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
Ambassador Young received the Presidential Meritorious Service Award, State Department’s Award for Outstanding Deputy Chief of Mission, the Foreign Service Award for Advancing Democracy, the Joint Distinguished Civilian Service Medal from the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards and Burkina Faso’s Knight of the Order of the Stallion. He earned a Masters’ Degree in African Studies and Economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and an undergraduate degree in Political Science and French at the University of California Berkeley (ΦΒΚ). Married to a fellow Foreign Service Officer (retired) with two children currently in graduate school, Ambassador Young hails from Bakersfield, California.