New arrivals
Levon Martirosyan
Ambassador of Armenia
Ambassador Martirosyan began his working life by doing his service in Armenia’s armed forces for two years. In 1997, he completed his legal studies at Yerevan State University and started working as a lawyer. Four years later, he completed a master’s of law in international human rights at the University of Essex’s faculty of law.
In 2007, Martirosyan returned to Armenia, where he was appointed assistant to the prime minister. The following year, he became assistant to the president, a position he held until 2012 when he was elected deputy of the national assembly.
The ambassador founded two NGOs in the early 2000s — the Young Democrats’ Union and the British Alumni Association. He’s also the co-founder of the United Liberal National Party.
He is married with two children.
Noukpo Clément Kiki
Ambassador of Benin
Ambassador Kiki’s appointment is a first for the man who’s been a school teacher and administrator for the past 20 years.
Kiki studied physics at the Université d’Abomey Calavi and received a diploma from the faculty of engineering. He also studied in the arts faculty at the same university a couple of years later, completing a diploma in literature and geography and a certificate in physics. He later completed a certificate of proficiency for teaching secondary students from the Université de Parakou.
The ambassador speaks five languages: French, English, Gùn, Fon and Yoruba. He is married to J. M. Sylvie Dossou and has three children — two daughters and a son.
Briunny Garabito Segura
Ambassador of the Dominican Republic
Ambassador Garabito Segura joined the diplomatic service in 1997. Prior to this post, he was ambassador to Colombia from 2013 to 2017.
The ambassador has a degree in philosophy from Santo Tomas University in Colombia. He has also completed studies in political management and governability from George Washington University and Universidad del Rosario and specialization in political sciences and international relations from Externado University.
In 2017, the Superior Council of Latin American Journalism awarded him a peace prize in Colombia for post-conflict efforts. He was also the recipient of 2015’s diplomatic excellence award, given by the Dominican Republic’s foreign ministry for the best administration among Dominican diplomatic missions.
The ambassador is married to Jenny Silva de Garabito, and they have two daughters. He speaks Spanish and English.
Peteris Ustubs
Ambassador of the EU
Ambassador Ustubs began his posting as the European Union’s top diplomat in Canada in September 2017. Prior to his arrival in Canada, he served as a senior adviser on the Americas to the cabinet of Federica Mogherini, high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy and vice-president of the European Commission.
Ustubs has held senior positions with the European external action service, including director for west and central Africa. Prior to that, he was deputy head of cabinet for Andris Piebalgs, former European commissioner for development.
Ustubs joined the Latvian diplomatic service in 1993 and served as the representative of Latvia to the political and security committee of the EU, the foreign policy adviser to the prime minister and under-secretary of state and political director of the ministry of foreign affairs.
Kareen Rispal
Ambassador of France
Ambassador Rispal joined the foreign ministry in 1986 and began her service with the department responsible for atomic and space-related affairs before moving to the economic and financial affairs directorate.
In 1991, she became an adviser on humanitarian aid. From 1993 to 1997, she headed the external and commercial relations department of the inter-ministerial committee for European economic co-operation before becoming a policy officer on European affairs.
She then joined the legal affairs directorate until 2000 when she was named first counsellor to the U.K. After returning, to Paris, she was named deputy director of European co-operation. In 2006, she was posted to France’s permanent mission to the UN in New York.
She later served as director of sustainable development and public affairs with the Lafarge Group and then returned to the foreigh ministry as director for the Americas and the Caribbean from 2014.
Rispal is married and has four children.
Sabine Sparwasser
Ambassador of Germany
For Ambassador Sparwasser, coming to Canada represents a return posting of sorts: She was consul general to Toronto from 2009 to 2013 and chargé d’affaires and deputy head of mission in Ottawa between 2003 and 2006. She also worked as an exchange officer to Canada for a year in 2002.
Since 2013, she’s held positions in the foreign ministry, as head of the foreign service academy (2013-’15) and assistant deputy minister for Africa, Asia, Latin America, Near and Middle East as well as special representative of the federal government for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Other postings have included Costa Rica, London, Brussels, Bonn and Paris.
Sparwasser studied political science and international relations as well as German, French and English literature and linguistics. She speaks all three languages, plus Spanish.
Konstantine Kavtaradze
Ambassador of Georgia
Ambassador Kavtaradze began his career in broadcasting as assistant director of the Georgian TV and Radio Broadcasting Company before completing his two-year compulsory military service.
In 1990, he joined the foreign service as a senior specialist in the economic co-operation division and later at the international humanitarian division, which he later headed.
In 2000, he became head of the OSCE division and later, deputy director of international cultural relations. In 2001, he became director of that department and from 2004 to 2006, he was deputy minister of foreign affairs.
From 2006 to 2011, he was ambassador to Poland and from 2011 to 2015, he was ambassador to Sweden and Finland. Before being sent to Canada, he led the foreign ministry’s Eastern Partnership Initiative.
Joseph Ayikoi Otoo
High Commissioner for Ghana
After completing legal studies, High Commissioner Ayikoi Otoo was called to the Ghana Bar in 1981.
He served as attorney-general and justice minister for a little more than a year in 2005 and 2006 and became a non-voting member of Ghana’s parliament. He also led Ghana’s delegation to international arbitrations and served on many statutory and constitutional bodies, including cabinet and sub-committees.
In 2007, he set up his own law office — Otoo & Associates —and remained there until he was appointed high commissioner to Canada.
Otoo has appeared on many television and radio programs as a political and social commentator. He has also written for Ghanaian newspapers as well as Your Health Guide magazine and the Banking and Finance Law Journal of Ghana.
Rima Alaadeen
Ambassador of Jordan
Prior to arriving in Canada, Ambassador Alaadeen was director of the North American department at the foreign ministry.
Between 2010 and 2015, she served as ambassador to Australia, becoming the first career female ambassador in the Jordanian foreign service. In 2012, she was appointed non-resident ambassador to New Zealand as well. She was also the first female diplomat to head a political department at the foreign ministry. She started her career in 1991 with postings to the UAE and Geneva.
Ambassador Alaadeen holds a bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Jordan and a high diploma in diplomatic studies and comprehensive defence theories and studies. During her university years, she worked as an English news broadcaster at Jordan Television through the ministry of information.
She is married to Ghadian Daban and has two children.
Darius Pranckevicius
Ambassador of Lithuania
Ambassador Pranckevičius graduated from Vilnius University in 1992.
His foreign service career has seen stints with the Lithuanian embassies in Washington, DC and the Hague. He worked in the information and press offices of foreign ministry, as well as in economic relations and European integration.
Pranckevičius’ first ambassadorial posting was as ambassador to Turkey from 2007 to 2010. During the latter three years (2008 to 2010), he was also ambassador to Iran, a posting he carried out from Turkey.
Between 2010 and 2014, he was back at the ministry as ambassador-at-large and representative at the political and security committee of the EU. From 2014 until his posting to Canada, he was director of the policy planning department.
The ambassador married and has one child. He speaks Lithuanian, English and Russian.
Ines Martinez Valinotti
Ambassador of Paraguay
Ambassador Martinez, a career diplomat, has studied law, international relations and aerospace policy and strategy. She is a graduate of the European Diplomatic Academy.
At the foreign ministry, she was a professor of treaty law at the diplomatic academy; director of integration and international transport; legal adviser for integration affairs within MERCOSUR; and director for human rights.
She was first secretary at the embassy in Brussels and the mission to the European Union. Some years later, she became permanent alternate representative to the Organization of American States in Washington, D.C.
Ambassador Martinez is a senior professor of international public law and air and space law at the National University of Asuncion.
She is married to retired ambassador Alfredo Canete; she has four children.
Andrzej Kurnicki
Ambassador of Poland
Andrzej Kurnicki holds a PhD in economics and is a specialist in finance, capital markets, private and investment banking.
In the 1980s and 1990s, he was a financial and investment adviser in the U.S. For many years, he was also an academic lecturer (University of Warsaw, Coventry University and Lazarski University) and program co-ordinator for students and senior managers in Poland and the U.S. Between 2014 and 2016, he served as head of the department of finance and banking at Lazarski University, and later, as head of its capital markets department.
He’s organized international conferences for managers and private investors in Poland and the U.S. He was a student of Robert McTeera, president of the central bank (FED) in the U.S.
Ambassador Kurnicki currently chairs or participates in more than 40 panels and discussion boards in finance, investment banking and capital markets programs.
Joy Ruth Acheng
High Commissioner for Uganda
Joy Ruth Acheng comes to diplomacy from politics, but she began her career as a teacher. After completing a bachelor’s degree in education at Makerere University in Kampala, she taught part-time at St. Katherine and Aduku Senior Secondary schools.
Between 2002 and 2004, she became secretary for education and children affairs in the Apach District. She then completed a post-gradute diploma in public administration and management, before becoming a social worker at War Child Holland’s Lira field office, a position she held between 2008 and 2010. Between 2011 and 2016, she was a member of parliament for the Kole District. Since 2013, she has been a board member at All Saint University in Lango.
High Commissioner Acheng is currently completing a master’s degree at the Uganda Management Institute in Kampala. She is married and speaks three languages: English, Luo and some Kiswahili.
Susan le Jeune d’Allegeershecque
High Commissioner for the U.K.
High Commissioner le Jeune d’Allegeershecque began her career with the foreign service in 1985 as a desk officer in the nuclear energy department. Two years later, she was sent to Brussels as third secretary, which was upgraded to second secretary before she left the post in 1989.
She returned to headquarters for two years before being sent to Singapore as second secretary. After another return to the ministry, she was off for the next three years to Caracas as deputy head of mission. She then spent three more years in Bogota in the same position.
From 2005 to 2007, she was counsellor and consul general in Washington and was later sent as ambassador to Vienna (2012-2016). Prior to her posting in Canada, she was chargé d’affaires at the U.K.’s embassy in Paris.
The high commissioner is married and has two children.
Non-heads of mission
Australia
Katherine Anne O’donnell
Attaché
Susan Joy Pullar
Counsellor
Peter John Beacroft
Second secretary
Belgium
Georges Patrick L. Franchomme
Defence attaché
Bosnia And Herzegovina
Zlatko Aksamija
Counsellor and chargé d’affaires
Brazil
Alcides Teixeira Barbacovi
Defence and air attaché
Chile
Sebastien Eduardo Molina Medina
First secretary
China
Xuan Wang
First secretary
Gang Wang
Counsellor
Yong Wu
First secretary
Ning An
First secretary
Colombia
Natalia Carolina Mantilla Munoz
Second secretary
Dominican Republic
Yamila Alejandra Fersobe Botello
Counsellor
Luis Maria Kalaff Sanchez
Minister-counsellor
Michelle Teresa Jorge Dumit
Counsellor
France
Marie Cécile E. Hours
First secretary
Germany
Nadine Assistant Emser-Koenig
Attaché
Eva-Ricarda Baerbel Willems
First secretary
Ghana
Elvis Kwame Arhinful
Second secretary
Hungary
Katalin Oroszi
First secretary
Zoltan Jatekos
Second secretary
India
Rakesh Mohan
Second secretary
Indonesia
Fibria Rhischa Novytasari
Attaché
Ireland
Laura Ann Finlay
Second secretary
Israel
Amos Nachmani
Defence attaché
Japan
Ami Taniguchi
Attaché
Saori Deguchi
Third secretary
Jordan
Fahed Faleh Alahmad Al Damen
Defence, military, naval and air attaché
Korea, South
Jong Kyoung Park
Counsellor
Kosovo
Blerta Ademi Beqiri
First Secretary
Kuwait
Abdullah Abulaziz Alhusainan
Attaché
Yaseen M Sh E S Almajed
Second secretary
Mudhaf Almudhaf
Attaché
Hasham Almotawaa
Attaché
Libya
Khaled Elsahli
Counsellor and chargé d’affaires
Madagascar
Haritiana Razafimandimby
Attaché
Malaysia
Chia Chiann Wong
First secretary
Mexico
Arturo Hernandez Basave
Deputy head of mission
Juan Gabriel Morales
First secretary
Maria Cristina Oropeza Zorrilla
First secretary
Leonardo Rebolloza Reyes
Attaché
Moldova
Ina Ursan
Second secretary
Mongolia
Battushig Zanabazar
Counsellor
Morocco
Houda Zemmouri
Counsellor
Myanmar
Soe Ko Ko
Minister-counsellor
Nepal
Prakash Adhikari
Counsellor
New Zealand
David Roger Julian Lynch
Deputy high commissioner
Andrew Scott Taylor
First secretary
Rachel Amy Spencer
Second secretary
Nigeria
Joseph Sule Atodo
Minister
Norway
Bjarte Havik
Counsellor
Philippines
Rosalie Gonsalves
Attaché
Portugal
Joao Paulo Barbosa Da Costa
Counsellor
Romania
Marian-Florin Ureche
Defence, Military, Naval and Air Attaché
Gheorghe Predescu
Attaché
Russia
Mikhail Tolchenov
First secretary
Pavel Kudinov
Second secretary
Alexander Posylkin
First secretary
Saudi Arabia
Abdullah Mohammed S. Alqarni
Attaché
Abdulrahman Abdullah Smele
Attaché
Abdullah Mohammed S. Alqahtani
Attaché
Saleh Ahmed K Alghamdi
Attaché
Ahmed Mufadhi T. Al Anzi
Attaché
Sultan Mohammed I. Mohauish
First secretary
Sri Lanka
Roshan Sithara Khan Azard
Deputy high commissioner
Turkey
Suat Demir
Attaché
United Arab Emirates
Mohamed R. M. Alfandi Alshamsi
Third secretary
United Kingdom
Henry John Southcott
First secretary
United States of America
Jennifer Darlene Gordon
Attaché
Marjorie Gail Fitton
Attaché
Evan Nicholas Mangino
Attaché
Joseph Lynn Crook
First secretary
Cyndee Janeen Crook
Second secretary And Consul
Katherine Anne Musgrove Ketchum
Second secretary and consul
David Wayne Hall
Counsellor
Robert Emil Tibbetts
Second secretary and consul
Miles Hollis Ketchum
Attaché
Dawn Lenay Welfare
First secretary
Steven Charles Teschendorf
Coast Guard attaché
Eric Crawford Hammarsten
Second secretary
