BIOGRAPHY John Marshall Evans Ambassador, Armenia Term of Appointment: 08/11/2004 to 09/10/2006

John Evans was confirmed by the Senate on June 25, 2004 and was sworn-in as the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia on August 11, 2004. He presented his credentials to President Kocharian on September 4, 2004.

A native of Williamsburg, Virginia, Mr. Evans studied Russian history at Yale (B.A., 1970) and Columbia, where he began a Ph.D. before joining the Foreign Service. In the first part of his career, he served in Tehran (1972-74), in Prague (1975-78), in the Executive Secretariat and Office of the Secretary of State (1978-80), in Moscow (1981-83), at the U.S. Mission to NATO (1983-86), and as Deputy Director of the Soviet Desk (1986-89). His role in coordinating the American response to the Armenian earthquake of 1988 earned him a medal and statement of appreciation from the Armenian government of that time.

Having won a Cox Fellowship, Mr. Evans set about studying Ottoman history at the Kennan Institute; however, the tumultuous events of 1989 resulted in his being recalled to serve as deputy chief of delegation to four post-1989 experts’ meetings of the CSCE (in Bonn on Economic Cooperation, in Valletta on Peaceful Settlement of Disputes, in Copenhagen on the Human Dimension, and in Krakow on Preservation of the Cultural Heritage). Mr. Evans went on to serve as Deputy Chief of Mission in Prague (1991-94), and as Consul General in St. Petersburg (1994-97). He was then chosen to lead the OSCE Mission to Moldova, an international mediation and peace-keeping mission, during the Danish, Polish and Norwegian OSCE chairmanships (1997-99).

On his return to Washington in 1999, Mr. Evans assumed direction of the State Department’s Office of Analysis for Russia and Eurasia, winning a Meritorious Honor Award and the CIA Director’s Exceptional Performance Award. From May 2002 until his appointment to Yerevan, he directed the Office of Russian Affairs.

Ambassador Evans speaks Russian, French, Czech and some Farsi, and is studying Eastern Armenian. He is married to Donna Evans, former President of the World Affairs Council of Washington, and has a married daughter, Jennifer, who lives in New York. The Evanses collect folk art representations of Adam and Eve.