Johnny Young (diplomat)

Johnny Young joined the United States Foreign Service as an officer in 1967.[4] He first worked as a budget and fiscal officer in Antananarivo, Madagascar until 1970. For two years he was the supervisory general services officer in Conakry, Guinea[2] (during Portugal's Operation Green Sea)[3] before doing the same in Nairobi, Kenya from 1972–1974. From Kenya, Young transferred to Doha, Qatar, where he first served as chargé d'affaires. After another overseas assignment to Bridgetown, Barbados, Young returned to the US in 1979 to work in the Foreign Service's Washington, D.C. Bureau of Personnel and Office of the Inspector General. In 1983, Young left the States to serve in Amman, Jordan for two years before moving on to The Hague, Netherlands.[2]

From 1989–2004, Young was an ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary.[1] Assigned to Sierra Leone from November 29, 1989 – July 23, 1992, Young succeeded Cynthia Shepard Perry and was himself succeeded by Lauralee M. Peters.[5] Young presented his credentials as Ambassafor to Togo on October 7, 1994, taking the office recently left by Harmon Elwood Kirby; when Young left on November 21, 1997, he would be replaced by Brenda Schoonover.[6] As Ambassador to Bahrain (December 11, 1997 to September 29, 2001), Young was filling the shoes of David M. Ransom; when Young left, Ronald E. Neumann filled his role the following month.[7] Young's final ambassadorial assignment was to Slovenia from October 24, 2001 – September 17, 2004; Young took the office after it was vacated by Nancy Halliday Ely-Raphel, and Thomas Bolling Robertson took it from Young[8] after the latter retired.[4]

While working for the Foreign Service, Young participated in Operation Sharp Edge and the evacuation of US civilians in Freetown after Valentine Strasser's coup d'état. He also received performance-based cash awards, a Superior Honor Award, a Meritorious Honor Award, and two Group Honor Awards.[2] On October 12, 2004, Young was appointed as a Senior Foreign Service Career Ambassador.[1]

After his retirement from government service, Young worked as a consultant, a lecturer, and the executive director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Migration and Refugee Services Division from 2007 through at least 2013. In 2013, Young also self-published the autobiographical From The Projects to the Palace: A Diplomat's Unlikely Journey from the Bottom to the Top; printed by Xlibris, it tells Young's story from childhood through his diplomatic career.[4]