Dr Samuel Assefa is the current Ambassador of Ethiopia to the US.Prior to his appointment,he worked with many organisations concerned with strengthening civil society.
Dr. Samuel Assefa is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He obtained a bachelor's degree in Philosophy and Economics from Swarthmore College,Pennsylvania. He also received a doctorate in Political Science from Princeton University and taught there afterwards. He also taught at Williams College and Rutgers University. He also served as Vice President of Addis Ababa University.
Before his appointment as Ethiopia's ambassador to the U.S. on May 11,2006, Dr. Assefa worked with several institutions involved with strengthening civil society. Some of the institutions he worked with are: Heinrich Boll Foundation; African Initiative for a Democratic World Order; InterAfrica Group and Center for Peace, Democracy and Human Rights.
He is a founding member of Ethiopia Past and Future which is a group made up of ambassadors of leading donor countries and members of Ethiopian civil society aiming at promoting dialogue in the aftermath of the Ethiopian elections in 2005.
He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church Development Commission.
Ambassador Assefa's father was also a diplomat;he served as Ethiopia's ambassador to Germany from 1961 to 1964 and from 1970 to 1974.