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Bernadette Meehan
Meehan in December 2025
United States Ambassador to Chile
In office
September 30, 2022 – January 20, 2025
PresidentJoe Biden
Preceded byCarol Z. Perez
Succeeded byBrandon Judd
Spokesperson for the United States National Security Council
In office
October 2014 – June 2015
PresidentBarack Obama
Personal details
NationalityAmerican
SpouseEvan S. Medeiros
EducationBoston College (BA)

Bernadette M. Meehan is an American diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Chile from 2022 to 2025. She has been appointed the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Wikimedia Foundation, and is to assume the role on January 20, 2026, succeeding Maryana Iskander.

Early life and education

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Meehan was born in the Bronx, raised in Pleasantville, New York, and graduated from Kennedy Catholic High School in Somers, New York in 1993.[1] She graduated from Boston College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science.[1] After graduation, she worked on Wall Street, first at JPMorgan Chase and then Lehman Brothers.[2] She later joined the United States Foreign Service.[1][3][4]

Career

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Meehan joined the United States Department of State as a Foreign Service officer in 2004, and began her new career as a consular officer at the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá, Colombia.[3][better source needed]

In 2010 she returned to Washington, D.C. to work as a State Department "line officer", advancing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's overseas travel. She then became special assistant to Clinton.[3][non-primary source needed] In 2012, Meehan was detailed to the White House National Security Council (NSC) and in 2014 she became the spokeswoman for the National Security Council.[3] Meehan left the NSC in 2015 to become an adjunct professor and State Department resident fellow at Georgetown University's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.[5]

Meehan was enlisted[when?] by Ben Rhodes to help plan Barack Obama's visit to Cuba.[6] She worked as a senior advisor at the National Security Council from January 2016 to January 2017.[7]

In February 2017, Meehan left the Foreign Service to serve as the chief international officer at the Obama Foundation.[8] She eventually became its executive vice president of Global Programs.[9]

United States ambassador to Chile

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Meehan sworn in as Ambassador to Chile in 2022 by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman

On July 9, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Meehan to be the next United States ambassador to Chile.[10] Hearings on her nomination were held before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 15, 2022. The committee favorably reported her nomination on May 18, 2022.[11] On July 20, 2022, the United States Senate confirmed her nomination by a 51–44 vote.[12] She was sworn in on August 29, 2022[13] and presented her credentials to President Gabriel Boric on September 30, 2022.[14]

Following the election of President Donald Trump, Meehan submitted her resignation as ambassador effective January 10, 2025, following tradition for political appointees of both parties.[15]

Post-ambassadorial career

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On December 9, 2025, Meehan was appointed CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation.[9] She will assume the role on January 20, 2026.[16]

Personal life

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Meehan speaks English, Spanish and Arabic.[16] She is married to Evan S. Medeiros, the Penner Family Chair in Asian Studies at Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service.[17]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "The gael fall 2015". Issuu. September 2015. Archived from the original on August 14, 2022. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  2. ^ "Boston College Magazine » Winter 2013 » Linden Lane » Capital gains". Archived from the original on June 25, 2015. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d Meehan, Bernadette (February 8, 2012). "RealJobs: Bernadette Meehan". BC Affairs. Archived from the original on February 17, 2015. Retrieved February 17, 2015.
  4. ^ "Bernadette Meehan | Institute for the Study of Diplomacy | Georgetown University". Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  5. ^ "Bernadette Meehan". isd.georgetown.edu. Archived from the original on August 10, 2016.
  6. ^ Hirschfeld Davis, Julie (March 7, 2016). "White House and Cuba Maneuver Over Obama's Visit (Published 2016)". Archived from the original on July 31, 2018. Retrieved December 19, 2025. Mr. Rhodes enlisted Bernadette Meehan, a former National Security Council spokeswoman and Foreign Service officer, who left the White House in June, to return to the West Wing to help plan the trip, reflecting the complexity of the task and the importance Mr. Obama places on bringing it off smoothly.
  7. ^ "Happy Hour with the Obama Foundation's Bernadette Meehan | AS/COA". www.as-coa.org. Retrieved December 19, 2025. From January 2016 to January 2017, Meehan served as a senior advisor at the White House National Security Council, conducting negotiations with the government of Cuba and overseeing a series of regulatory changes and migration agreements.
  8. ^ "Obama Foundation Announces New Program to Train Emerging Leaders Across Africa". The Obama Foundation. April 23, 2018. Archived from the original on July 31, 2018. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
  9. ^ a b Sophia, Deborah Mary (December 9, 2025). "Exclusive: Wikipedia operator taps former US Ambassador to Chile for CEO role". Reuters.
  10. ^ "President Biden Announces His Intent to Nominate Four Individuals to Serve as Ambassadors". The White House. July 9, 2021. Archived from the original on January 21, 2025. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
  11. ^ "PN787 — Bernadette M. Meehan — Department of State 117th Congress (2021-2022)". March 15, 2022. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  12. ^ "On the Nomination (Confirmation: Bernadette M. Meehan, of New York, to be Ambassador of the United States of America to the Republic of Chile)". www.senate.gov. Archived from the original on July 20, 2022. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  13. ^ "Quién es Bernadette Meehan, embajadora de EE. UU. En Chile" (in Spanish). September 13, 2022. Archived from the original on September 27, 2022. Retrieved September 27, 2022.
  14. ^ "Presidente de la República Gabriel Boric Font recibe Cartas Credenciales de seis nuevos embajadores" [President of the Republic Gabriel Boric Font receives Letters of Credence from six new ambassadors]. Government of Chile. September 30, 2022. Archived from the original on February 9, 2025. Retrieved December 10, 2025.
  15. ^ "CNN Íntimo: Bernadette Meehan, embajadora EE.UU en Chile". CNNChile. January 2025. Archived from the original on December 17, 2024. Retrieved April 15, 2025.
  16. ^ a b "Wikimedia Foundation appoints Bernadette Meehan as Chief Executive Officer". Wikimedia Foundation. December 9, 2025.
  17. ^ "Evan S. Medeiros Biography" (PDF). Georgetown University. 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 13, 2022. Retrieved December 9, 2025.
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