Career diplomat replaces Rizzuto as Acting US Consul General
A career diplomat has been appointed as the Acting US Consul General to Bermuda.
Alan Purcell will take up the role next week after Lee Rizzuto, the former consul general, left the island last Tuesday.
A spokeswoman for the US Consulate General Hamilton explained: “A career foreign service officer, Mr Purcell served most recently as the Freedom of Information Act coordinator for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs in the State Department.”
She added that his background included work in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour.
Mr Purcell was a political counsellor in Kyiv, Ukraine from 2014 to 2017 and the Deputy Director of the Office of Caucasus Affairs and Regional Conflicts for about two years before that.
Between 2008 and 2011 he was an Eastern Mediterranean Regional Counterterrorism Coordinator, based in Athens, Greece.
Mr Purcell’s career has also included posts in Georgia, Belarus, Moldova and Hungary.
The spokeswoman said: “As the Acting Consul General, Mr Purcell will manage a team whose mission is to protect US citizens in Bermuda and to deepen the strong economic and cultural ties between the United States and Bermuda.”
Mr Rizzuto’s role as US Consul General came to an end when the new administration in the United States was sworn in this week.
His appointment, which lasted about six months, came after selection by former President Donald Trump.
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