Michael Kozak

Michael G. Kozak (born September 18, 1946) is an American diplomat in the United States Department of State who is serving as the Senior Bureau Official for Western Hemisphere Affairs. He had served Acting Assistant Secretary from 2019 to 2021. He previously served as U.S. Ambassador to Belarus between 2000 and 2003 and chief of mission at the United States Interests Section in Havana between 1996 and 1999, and was a nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador in 1991. He achieved a measure of prominence in the 1980s for his attempts to negotiate with Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega to leave power.

Kozak is a civil service employee of the U.S. State Department and charter member of the Senior Executive Service. He has been described as a problem solver with practical solutions, who is "not prone to ideological diatribes." He has also been called "an outgoing, let's roll-up-our-sleeves kind of guy with a square boxer's body and face" and "pugnacious." Provided by Wikipedia