Strengthening the U.S.-Brazil Relationship: A Conversation with Nestor Forster Jr., Ambassador of Brazil to the U.S.

ABOUT

Ambassador Nestor Forster Jr., Ambassador of Brazil in Washington

Born in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 1963, Ambassador Forster graduated from the Brazilian Diplomatic Academy (Instituto Rio Branco) in 1986. As a diplomat, he served in Canada, Costa Rica, and the United States, where he was posted three times to the Embassy in Washington, as well as to the Brazilian consulates in Hartford (CT) and New York (NY). His diplomatic experience covers such areas as trade negotiations, intellectual property, financial policy, political affairs, international law, consular affairs, administration and information technology.

After starting his career in consular affairs, Forster was posted twice to the Office of the President of Brazil (1990-92 and 2002), having also served as chief of staff at the Office of the Attorney General. Most recently, he headed the Foreign Ministry’s Information Technology Division. Ambassador Forster has led numerous Brazilian delegations to regional and multilateral meetings.

In 2006, Nestor Forster successfully concluded his high studies dissertation on “Development Finance” at the Rio Branco diplomatic academy. He also coauthored the Official Style Guide of Brazil’s federal administration, in use for over 25 years, and participated in the first institutionalized Brazilian presidential transition team in 2002, which resulted in the book “Transition and Democracy: institutionalizing the transferring of power.” He has also appeared as guest speaker at
Columbia University, Toronto University, University of Alberta, Université Laval à Montreal, and Instituto Rio Branco.

Ambassador Forster was the Chargé d’affaires of the Embassy of Brazil in Washington since June 2019. He was nominated Ambassador of Brazil to the United States and was confirmed by the Brazilian Senate in September 2020. Ambassador Forster is married to Maria Theresa. They have two daughters and two grandchildren.

Ambassador Thomas A. Shannon, Jr. is a Senior Fellow with the Future of Diplomacy Project and a Senior International Policy Advisor at Arnold & Porter. He brings more than three decades of government service and diplomatic experience to his practice, providing strategic counsel to clients across a range of legislative, foreign policy, and national security issues.

Most recently, Ambassador Shannon served as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, the third highest ranking position at the State Department. Holding the personal rank of Career Ambassador, he was the highest ranking member of the United States Foreign Service, the country's professional diplomatic corps. During his tenure as Under Secretary, Ambassador Shannon was in charge of bilateral and multilateral foreign policymaking and implementation, and oversaw diplomatic activity globally and in our missions to international organizations. He managed the State Department during the presidential transition, led bilateral and strategic stability talks with the Russian Federation, worked with our allies to oversee Iranian compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and expanded US engagement in Central Asia, among other things.

Prior to that appointment, he served as Counselor of the Department, where he acted as a troubleshooter and roving envoy for Secretary of State John Kerry. In that capacity, he focused on Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, and led US support for the UN-sponsored peace processes in Yemen and South Sudan. Ambassador Shannon spent nearly 35 years in the Foreign Service, and has served 6 US presidents and 11 secretaries of state.

Prior to his 2016 appointment by President Obama as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Ambassador Shannon was the United States Ambassador to Brazil. Prior to this appointment, Ambassador Shannon served as Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs from 2005-2009. He served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the National Security Council (2003-2005), Deputy Assistant Secretary of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the Department of State (2002-2003), and Director of Andean Affairs (2001-2002). From 2000-2001, he was US Deputy Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States, with the rank of Ambassador. During his career, Ambassador Shannon served in the US Foreign Service at embassies in Guatemala, Brazil, South Africa, and Venezuela.

Erika Manouselis is currently the Project Coordinator for the Future of Diplomacy Project and for the Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship. Previously, she worked as an advisor and speechwriter at the Permanent Mission of Brazil to the United Nations from 2016-2017. She was a research assistant for the Opening the Archives Project, a digitization effort aimed at documenting U.S.-Brazil Relations from 1960s-80s, and for The Brazil Reader: History, Culture, Politics. She was also a translator for a study of the implementation of Brazil’s National Common Core Curricular Base run by Colombia University's Consortium for Policy Research in Education. She holds a B.A. in Classics and political science with honors from Brown University, an MPhil in Political Thought and Intellectual History from the University of Cambridge, and a certificate in Marketing Management from the Harvard Extension School. She is a citizen of the U.S., Brazil, and the EU (Greece).