New US Ambassador to Belgium named

Denise Bauer has been nominated by the president Barack Obama to be the next Ambassador of the United States to Belgium, writes New Europe’s Alia Papageorgiou. The notice released by the President's residence, The White House press office on June 21 listed 15 new appointees, mostly to the diplomatic corps as well as the election commission, corporation of public broadcasting, the department of defence and others. New appointees as Ambassadors to Greece and Australia are included in the list. Nominee Bauer, who will be taking the position of Howard W. Gutman on 23 July according to Belgian press reports, is currently the Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Belvedere Community Foundation in Belvedere, California. She was previously Finance Chair for Women for Obama in 2011. From 2008 to 2012, she served on the Democratic National Committee, serving as Chair and Co-chair of the Women’s Leadership Forum and as Co-chair of the National Issues Conference.  Prior to this, she worked in television news and public affairs.  From 1993 to 1994, she was a Public Affairs Officer for the American Red Cross Bay Area in San Francisco.  From 1990 to 1992, she was a freelance film and video producer in Los Angeles, and from 1988 to 1990, she was the News Producer for the North American Bureau of Nine Network Australia in Los Angeles.  She began her career in television in 1985 as a Field Producer and Researcher for KCBS-TV News in Los Angeles.  Bauer received a B.A. from LA’s Occidental College.