Embassy Staff Bios

22 June 2018

Robert Wood Johnson

Ambassador of the United States of America to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

President Donald J. Trump nominated Robert Wood Johnson to be United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James’s on June 22, 2017 and he has been in post since August.

Ambassador Johnson has served for more than thirty years as the Chairman and CEO of The Johnson Company, New York, NY, a private asset management firm; and since 2000 as the Chairman and CEO of the New York Jets football team and New York Jets Foundation.

Ambassador Johnson is the Founding Chairman of the Lupus Research Alliance and worked for many years with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. The missions of these charities are to cure, treat and prevent Lupus and Type 1 diabetes and Ambassador Johnson has raised millions of dollars on behalf of these organizations.

Ambassador Johnson has served on the President’s Export Council, the President’s Commission on White House Fellows and he is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Ambassador Johnson earned a B.A from the University of Arizona and lives in London with wife Suzanne and their two sons.

 

Lew Lukens, Deputy Chief of Mission

Lew Lukens he serves as Chief Operating Officer of the U.S. Mission to the United Kingdom.

From 2014-2016 Lew was the Department of State’s Diplomat in Residence for the Northwest; based at UC Berkeley, he was responsible for recruitment and outreach for the Department of State in Montana, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and northern California. Lew was Ambassador to Senegal and Guinea-Bissau from 2011-2014, running one of the U.S.’s largest embassies in Africa.

As Executive Director of the Department of State’s Executive Secretariat from 2008-2011, he directed all management support for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, including her overseas travel. From 2005-2008 he was Consul General in Vancouver, BC, managing U.S. relations with Western Canada. From 2001 to 2005 he served as Senior Director for Administration at the National Security Council, as Management Counselor in Dublin, and as Executive Secretary in Baghdad.

Earlier assignments included Australia, Cote d’Ivoire, and China, as well as several postings in the Department of State’s Executive Secretariat.

Lew has an AB in History from Princeton University, and a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

 

Courtney Austrian, Counselor for Public Affairs

Courtney Austrian is a career Foreign Service Officer in the area of Public Diplomacy. Previous overseas postings include Georgia, Ukraine, Russia, Syria, and Haiti, where she served as Public Affairs Officer, Cultural Affairs Officer, Press Officer, Political Officer, and Consular Officer, respectively. In Washington, Ms. Austrian has held the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of International Information Programs, Director of Policy Planning and Public Diplomacy for the Bureau of Democracy Human Rights and Labor, and has worked in the office of the Secretary of State. Ms. Austrian received a B.A. from Swarthmore College, an MBA in Public and Non-Profit Administration from Boston University, and a M.S. in National Security Strategy from the National War College. Courtney’s husband is also a Foreign Service Officer, and they have two children.

 

Matt Goshko, Director of Press

Matthew Goshko is a career Foreign Service Officer currently serving as the Head of Press and Spokesperson for the U. S. Embassy, London. Previous postings include Deputy Director positions in the State Department’s Offices of Western European Affairs and Public Diplomacy, as well as postings to: the Somalia Affairs Unit in Kenya, Algeria, Iraq, Havana, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.  He received a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Maryland. He is married to a British diplomat and they have two children.

 

Jennifer Williams, Press Officer

Jennifer Williams has been a Foreign Service Officer for more than twelve years.  Previous postings include Kingston, Jamaica; Beirut, Lebanon; and Washington, DC. Jennifer managed the U.S. government’s humanitarian assistance program for Syrian refugees from 2011-2014, and then served as Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of State for Middle East and North African issues.  Before joining the State Department, Jennifer worked for the Department of Homeland Security and has previous experience on political campaigns.  Jennifer received a bachelor’s degree in international security studies from Georgetown University and a Master’s degree in public policy from Princeton University.  She is from Houston, Texas.

 

Karen Ogle, Minister Counselor for Consular Affairs

Minister Counselor for Consular Affairs Karen Ogle arrived in London in August 2017 from her previous assignment as Principal Officer in Hermosillo, Mexico. Karen oversees all Consular operations at the Embassy in London, and the U.S. Consulates in Belfast and Edinburgh. Throughout her career, Karen has served on six continents and also held assignments in Washington, both at the State Department and at the National Security Council. She has managed large operations on both the American Citizen and Visa sides of Consular work. Karen's languages are French, Farsi, and Spanish. She is in London with her husband, retired Navy Captain Hugh W. Marcy.

 

Brigadier General Christopher Short, Defense Attaché

General Short received his commission in 1989 as a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy.  Following pilot training at Williams AFB, Arizona, he served as a T-38 Instructor Pilot at Williams AFB Arizona and Vance AFB Oklahoma. He then transitioned to the A/OA-10A at Spangdahlem Air Base Germany, and later transitioned to the F-15E at Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina. He attended Air Command and Staff College before being assigned to the Headquarters Air Force staff at the Pentagon. Following his tour in the Pentagon, the general was assigned to RAF Lakenheath England where he served as 48th Wing Chief of Safety, 48th Operations Support Squadron Director of Operations, and 492d Fighter Squadron Commander. He was then assigned as Deputy Chief of Staff, United States Pacific Command. Following his joint duty staff assignment, the general attended NATO Defense College in Rome Italy, before being assigned as Vice Commander, 23d Wing Moody AFB, Georgia.  In 2012, the general was assigned as Commander, 366th Fighter Wing, Mountain Home AFB, Idaho. Prior to his current assignment, he served as the Commander, 57th Wing, Nellis AFB, Nevada.  The general has over 3,300 hours in various fighter aircraft and 243 combat hours in the A/OA-10A and the F-15E.

 

Mike Westendorp, Consular Officer

Mike Westendorp is a second tour Foreign Service Officer currently serving in the Non-Immigrant Visa section the U. S. Embassy, London. Before coming to London Mike was the Economic and Commercial Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Conakry, Guinea. Before becoming a diplomat, Mike volunteered with the Peace Corps in Madagascar. He received his B.A. from Xavier University and a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. He and his husband Cody are looking forward to adopting a puppy next year.

 

Colonel Allen Roberts, Chief, Office of Defense Cooperation

Colonel Allen R. Roberts is responsible for the United Kingdom Security Assistance portfolio, reporting to US European Command, Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), Department of Defense (DOD), and the US Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Colonel Roberts earned his commission in 1992 as a Distinguished Graduate of Ohio University’s ROTC program in Athens, Ohio. He attended Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training at Sheppard AFB, TX, where he was honored as a distinguished graduate prior to being assigned to fly the F-16. Colonel Roberts has commanded the USAFE Air Ground Operations School and has held staff positions in USAFE and PACAF. He studied Japanese at the Defense Language Institute (DLI) in Monterey, California, and attended Senior Developmental Education at the National Institute for Defense Studies in Tokyo, Japan in 2013. Prior to his current position, he was the Chief of Inspections for the Pacific Air Forces Inspector General in Hawaii. Colonel Roberts is a Command Pilot with more than 3,000 hours in various aircraft, including 146 combat hours in the F-16, and is a qualified Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC).

 

Tom Williams, Political Minister Counselor

Tom Williams previously served as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad from 2013-2015 and as the Deputy Chief of Mission in Riyadh from 2011-2013 and as Deputy Chief of Mission in Kuwait 2009-2011. Prior to those assignments he was Director of the Afghanistan and Pakistan office in the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Bureau at the State Department, overseeing an annual foreign assistance budget in excess of one billion dollars.

Other assignments include Director of Israel and Palestinian Affairs and Deputy Director of the Arabian Peninsula and Iran office within the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Economic Counselor in Abu Dhabi, Political Officer in Bahrain, and Political Officer in Kuwait. He served as a Political Officer in Islamabad from 1994-1996. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Mr. Williams is married and has two children with his wife, Stephanie, who is also a Foreign Service Officer. His foreign language is Arabic.

 

Stan Phillips, Agricultural Counselor

Stan Phillips assumed duty at the U.S. Embassy to the United Kingdom in December of 2014. He is assigned to London until August 2019. As Agricultural Counselor, Stan is the principal officer responsible for coordinating U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) policies and activities in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

Stan grew up raising livestock, grain and alfalfa on the farm his family still owns in Montana He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Business in 1987 and a Master of Science degree in Applied Economics in 1989 from Montana State University. After graduation, Stan worked at the University of Arkansas as a Research Associate before joining the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) in 1990.

Stan has been posted on foreign assignments as Agricultural Attaché in Warsaw, Poland (1995-2000), Agricultural Attaché in Seoul, South Korea (2002-2006), and Agricultural Trade Office Director in Seoul, South Korea (2006-2009).

Stan is married to Susan Phillips, a fellow Foreign Service Officer who currently serves as Agricultural Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands. Susan and Stan have a 21-year-old son at university in the United States. Stan enjoys playing guitar, traveling and skiing.

All information provided by The American Embassy