William Eacho

William Carlton Eacho III (born 1954)[1] is the former United States Ambassador to Austria.[2][3] Eacho was nominated by President Barack Obama in June 2009. He was confirmed by the US Senate and sworn in during August 2009.[4] He succeeded David F. Girard-diCarlo as ambassador in 2009 and was succeeded by Alexa Wesner in September 2013. Eacho presently is a co-founder of The Partnership For Responsible Growth,[5] a bipartisan organization advocating for US legislation for a fee on carbon extraction to counter the climate change threat.[6]

William Eacho
United States Ambassador to Austria
In office August 12, 2009 – August 3, 2013
Preceded by	David Girard-diCarlo
Succeeded by	Alexa L. Wesner
Personal details
Born	1954 (age 66–67)
Alma mater	Duke University Harvard Business School

In 2014, Eacho became a Visiting Professor of the Practice at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.[7] From 2013 to 2018, Ambassador Eacho was also affiliated with the Center for Transatlantic Relations as a Distinguished Fellow, as well as Visiting Scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, with an expertise in global energy, environment, and security issues. He formerly served on the Energy and Security Task Force of the International Peace Institute.[8]

Personal life

Eacho graduated magna cum laude from Duke University with a degree in Law and the Economy, a self-designed major combining political science and economics.[9] Prior to attending Harvard Business School, from which he graduated with Distinction in 1979, he was a Financial Analyst in the Corporate Finance department of Hornblower & Weeks, in New York City, and was an Associate with Loeb, Rhoades, Hornblower & Company in Los Angeles.[9]

Eacho was one of Obama's biggest campaign fundraisers, and he helped raise over $500,000. Eacho and his immediate family also donated $226,000 to federal politics in 2007-08, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-profit, nonpartisan research group based in Washington, D.C. that tracks the effects of money and lobbying on elections and public policy.[10]

He and his wife, Donna, have three sons.[9]

Professional

William Eacho was Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Carlton Capital Group, LLC in Bethesda, Maryland[9] until 2009. He had previously served as the Executive Vice President of Alliant Foodservice Inc. – then a $6 billion national foodservice distributor.[9] He served on three boards – Stanley Martin Companies, Inc., Bialek Corporation, Inc. and the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Washington.[9] Eacho also previously served on the Board of Visitors of Duke University's Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, on the Board of Trustees of Landon School, and is a member of World President's Organization and Chief Executives Organization. Following a long-standing tradition established by previous U.S. ambassadors, he was also an ex officio member on the Board of Directors of the Salzburg Global Seminar[9] from 2009 to 2013 was elected to full board membership in 2013, and served until 2017, when he was named a Senior Fellow.

Eacho serves on the Board of Directors of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), Friends of Acadia, and Pixspan, Inc.

On September 24, 2013, Austrian Federal President Heinz Fischer awarded Eacho the Grand Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria in Gold with Sash, the first American ambassador to be so honored since Milton Wolf received it in 1980. The celebration was held at the residence of Martin Sajdik, Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations in New York.[11]

References

1. "William Carlton Eacho III - People - Department History - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved Jan 23, 2020.
2. Sabir, Hind (August 16, 2009). "Senate Confirms Nomination for Ambassador to the Republic of Austria" (Press release). Targeted News Service. Retrieved August 18, 2009.
3. "US Senate confirms 20 diplomatic posts" (Press release). Gulf Times. August 8, 2009. Retrieved August 18, 2009.
4. "Biography - William C. Eacho, III". US State Department. Archived from the original on 2009-10-17.
5. "Team - The Partnership for Responsible Growth". Retrieved Jan 23, 2020.
6. "Our Team -". The Partnership for Responsible Growth. Retrieved Jan 23, 2020.
7. "William C Eacho | Scholars@Duke". scholars.duke.edu. Retrieved Jan 23, 2020.
8. "Biography - William C Eacho". [Center for Transatlantic Relations].
9. "Biography: William C. Eacho, III". United States Embassy. 2009. Retrieved August 18, 2009.
10. Burns, Robert (June 25, 2009). "Big Obama campaign donors get ambassadorships". boston.com. Retrieved July 5, 2013.
11. "U.S. Ambassador William Eacho Honored". Austrian Information. September 30, 2013. Retrieved November 6, 2013.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: U.S. Embassy Vienna