Ambassador Ralph Johnson

Ambassador (ret.) Ralph R. Johnson, President of the International Practice Group of Quinn Gillespie & Associates, has deep and long experience working with key policymakers in the foreign affairs arena, including at the Department of State, the National Security Council and in the United States Senate and House of Representatives. Prior to his role at QGA, Ralph was the Principal Deputy High Representative in the Office of the High Representative in Sarajevo from August 1999 until July 2001. He assumed his responsibilities in Sarajevo following three years (1996-1999) as Ambassador of the United States of America to Slovakia. Following his retirement from the Foreign Service in 1999, Ralph established a consulting firm that provided political risk assessment and political advisory services to U.S. and other investors in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans. From 1993 until 1995, Ralph was the Coordinator for U.S. assistance to Central and Eastern Europe where he was responsible for the oversight and coordination of all U.S. assistance to the region.
In previous Washington assignments, Ralph served in the Economic and European Bureaus of the Department of State, as well as at the United States Trade Representative's office in the White House. He was the Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Europe and Japan (1983-85), Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Trade and Commercial Affairs (1986-89), Deputy Assistant Secretary for Northern and Southern Europe and the EU (1989-91) and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of European and Canadian Affairs (1991-93). Ralph entered the U.S. Foreign Service in 1969. He has served overseas in Guyana, Poland, Bolivia and Slovakia. He received a Superior Honor Award in 1987, the Presidential Meritorious Honor Award in 1989 and 1994, and the Distinguished Service Award in 1999. A graduate of Seattle University, Ralph holds an M.A. in International Relations from Columbia University. He speaks Spanish, Polish and Slovak.