Jean Elizabeth Manes

Jean Elizabeth Manes is an American diplomat and is the former United States Ambassador to El Salvador. Manes was nominated by President Barack Obama on October 21, 2015 and confirmed by the Senate on December 9, 2015. Her time in office ended on January 20, 2017, after being asked to leave by President Donald Trump.

Manes is a native of Pompano Beach, Florida. Her parents, Roger and Betty Manes, built a family business. Manes attended Highlands Christian Academy through high school, graduating in 1988. She attended Liberty University as an undergraduate, where she played volleyball and coached the men’s club volleyball team. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Foreign Policy there in 1992.

Manes began her career in Washington, D.C. She accepted an internship with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chaired by Claiborne Pell, and worked for the U.S. Information Agency in Washington, D.C. from 1992 to 1999. During that time she also attended American University, where she earned a Master’s in Public Administration in 1996. Her subsequent assignments in the Foreign Service included ones at U.S. embassies in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Montevideo, Uruguay; Ponta Delgada-Azores, Portugal and Brasilia, Brazil.

Manes served as Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan from 2012 to 2013, and then accepted a short assignment in Ft. Lauderdale as Deputy Director of the State Department’s Florida Regional Center.

When President Barack Obama nominated her to become U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador, she was serving as Principal Deputy Coordinator at the Bureau of International Information Programs. She was confirmed by the Senate in December 2015.

Manes is married to Héctor R. Cerpa, from Salto, Uruguay, and they have two daughters. In addition to English, Manes speaks Spanish and Portuguese. She is of German and Native American (Choctaw) descent.