Deputy Chief of Mission

DCM Richard M. Sanders

Richard M. Sanders

In September of 2007 Richard M. Sanders assumed the position of Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Managua, Nicaragua.  Immediately prior to this assignment he had served as Deputy Director of the Office of Mexican Affairs, within the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs of the Department of State, 2005-2007.    

After joining the Foreign Service in 1984, he served as Consular Officer in Bogota, 1985-86, and as Economic Officer in Montevideo, 1987-88.   He then returned to Washington as Deputy Public Affairs Officer for the Western Hemisphere Bureau, 1988-90, followed by economic and commercial studies at the Foreign Service Institute, 1990-91.  After undertaking assignments as Economic Officer in Santiago, 1991-94 and Madrid, 1994-1997, he served as officer-in-charge for Argentine affairs in the Department of State, 1997-1999.  He returned to Bogota, as Deputy Political-Economic Counselor, 1999-2002.  He served as Economic Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas Venezuela, 2002-2005.

Mr. Sanders was promoted into the Senior Foreign Service in 2005.  He has received the Department of State’s Superior Honor Award, as well as Meritorious Honor Awards and Meritorious Step Increases.   In 1997-98 he was selected as a State Department participant in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s “Seminar XXI” program on “Foreign Politics, International Relations, and the National Interest.”  

He holds the degree of Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania and of Bachelor of Arts from Trent University.   He is married to the former Romy Barrera of Santiago, Chile.