Donald Lu

Donald Lu (born 1966) is a United States diplomat. He was the immediate past Deputy Chief of Mission at the United States Embassy in New Delhi, India. From late 2014 until January 20, 2017, he was the US Ambassador to Albania. He was the first ever Chinese American to serve as Ambassador in Albania.

Lu was born in Huntington Beach, California. He graduated from Princeton University with Bachelor of Arts and Master's degrees in International relations. Lu was a Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone, West Africa in 1988-1990 helping restore hand-dug water wells, and teach health education and latrine construction.

Lu joined the United States Foreign Service in 1990 and held posts in Pakistan, India, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan and Washington. He has been working with the State Department for over 25 years. Before he was appointed Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, he served as the Chargé d'affaires and Deputy Chief of Mission for United States Ambassador to Azerbaijan from July 4, 2009 through July 2010, when the office of the Ambassador to Azerbaijan had not been filled yet. He was one of proponents of immediate appointment of US Ambassador to Azerbaijan. In May 2010, the current Ambassador Matthew Bryza was already nominated to take the post and Lu was assigned to India in July 2010. The new post in New Delhi is Lu's second assignment to India. He was the Deputy Chief of Mission during president Obama's visit to New Delhi. He had previously worked as staff assistant to Ambassador Frank Wisner and as the political officer covering Kashmir and India-Pakistan relations in late 1990s. Before moving to Tirana, Albania he worked on the Ebola crisis in West Africa as Deputy Coordinator of Ebola response. He was sworn in as an U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Albania on December 17, 2014. He moved to Tirana, Albania in late 2014 as the United States Ambassador. This was his first official post as an Ambassador and not the Deputy Chief of Mission.

Secretary Clinton Is Greeted By Deputy Chief of Mission Lu

Lu was awarded with two Meritorious Honor Awards and five Superior Honor Awards.

He is married to Dr. Ariel Ahart, a distinguished public health specialist (specializing in women's public health) in the United States. The couple has two children, one boy and one girl. Donald Lu speaks Chinese, West African Krio, Urdu, Hindi, Russian, Georgian, Azerbaijani and Albanian.