Ambassador Greta C. Holtz enjoyed 35 years as a career diplomat with extensive experience in the Middle East region. She retired in April 2021 with the personal rank of Minister Counsellor. Ambassador Holtz served as Senior United States Coordinator for Operation Allies Refuge in Qatar from August - October 2021 and as Chargé d’affaires in Qatar from June 2020 until April 2021. She was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, and she was the Senior Foreign Policy Advisor (POLAD) to the Commanding General of U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) from 2017-2019. She served as the United States Ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman from 2012 to 2015 and was the Vice-Chancellor at National Defense University’s College of International Security Affairs from 2016 to 2017. Ambassador Holtz was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Strategic Communication in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, and she ran the United States Provincial Reconstruction teams in Iraq from 2009-2010.
Additional overseas assignments include Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Tunisia, Syria, and Turkey, and her domestic assignments include serving as the director of the Middle East Partnership Initiative, the United States Coordinator for the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe, and a Senior Watch Officer in the Operations Center.
Holtz has a B.S. in political science from Vanderbilt University, an M.A. in International Relations from the University of Kentucky’s Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce, and an M.A. in National Security Strategy from the National War College. She speaks French, Arabic, and Turkish.
Ambassador Holtz is the recipient of numerous State Department Superior Honor Awards, two Presidential Rank nominations, Vanderbilt University’s Phi Alpha Theta Distinguished Alumnus Award, the Christopher Medallion, (CIA); Joint Meritorious Civilian Service Award from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Joint Civilian Service Commendation Award from the President of National Defense University; Joint Civilian Service Achievement Award from the Chancellor of NDU’s College of International Security Affairs.