John E. Lange

Ambassador John E. Lange (Ret.) had a distinguished 28-year career in the Foreign Service, where he received awards for his leadership in a crisis at the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, served as Ambassador to Botswana, and was a pioneer in global health diplomacy and pandemic preparedness and response.

At the U.S. Department of State, Ambassador Lange served as the Special Representative on Avian and Pandemic Influenza (2006-2009); Deputy Inspector General; Deputy U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator at the inception of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief; and Associate Dean for Leadership and Management at the Foreign Service Institute. He was the U.S. Ambassador to Botswana and Special Representative to the Southern African Development Community (1999-2002), where he oversaw operations of seven U.S. Government agencies and made HIV/AIDS his signature issue.

Lange led the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, at the time of the August 7, 1998, terrorist bombing, for which he received the State Department’s Distinguished Honor Award. Earlier, he served at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, and at U.S. Embassies in Lomé, Togo; Paris, France; and Mexico City, Mexico. He also had tours of duty in the State Department Bureaus of African Affairs, Western Hemisphere Affairs, and Management in Washington.

After retiring as a Senior Foreign Service Officer in 2009, Lange spent four years at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation engaging in high-level global health advocacy with African governments and international organizations. In 2013, he moved to the United Nations Foundation as Senior Fellow for Global Health Diplomacy and held leadership positions in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and the Measles and Rubella Initiative.

Prior to joining the diplomatic service in 1981, he worked for five years at the United Nations Association-USA in New York.

At the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Ambassador Lange chairs the Board of Visitors of the Global Health Institute and is a member of the Board of Visitors of the International Division.

Lange is a “distinguished graduate” of the National War College (M.S. in national security strategy, 1996); a graduate cum laude of the University of Wisconsin Law School (J.D., 1975); and a graduate “with distinction” of UW-Madison (B.A. in political science, 1971). In 1978, he studied at The Hague Academy of International Law. He was admitted to the State Bar in Wisconsin (1975) and New York (1979). He speaks English and Spanish fluently and has working proficiency in French.