NAIROBI, Kenya Jun 2 – President Donald Trump has nominated Henry Wooster, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service from Virginia, to serve as the next Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to the Republic of Kenya, according to nominations transmitted to the U.S. Senate on June 1, 2026.
Wooster, who holds the rank of Minister-Counselor in the Senior Foreign Service, is expected to assume the post in Nairobi if confirmed by the Senate.
According to his profile bio, Wooster has served as the Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince. Prior to this role, he was the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. He served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan from September 2020 to July 2023. He is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service.
Before joining the Foreign Service, Henry was an Army officer. He holds an M.A. from Yale University and a B.A. from Amherst College.
His nomination comes amid a broader reshuffle of U.S. diplomatic and security appointments across multiple regions, spanning Africa, Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
If confirmed, Wooster will succeed Meg Whitman, who stepped down in 2024 after two years of service in Kenya after Trump was re-elected in November.
The White House submitted a wide-ranging list of nominations and appointments, including new ambassadorial picks, senior State Department roles, and U.S. attorney positions.
Among the notable ambassadorial nominations are: Mark Abreu to El Salvador, Alexander Alden to Azerbaijan, Christopher Anderson to Cambodia, William Grayson to Indonesia, Nathaniel Morris to Colombia, Daniel Perez to Brazil, Nick Oberheiden to Egypt, Keith Noreika to Lithuania and Michael Young to Serbia
Several African postings were also included, such as Stanley Brown to Equatorial Guinea, Laurence Socha to The Gambia.
The U.S. Embassy in Nairobi remains one of Washington’s most strategically important missions in sub-Saharan Africa, given Kenya’s role in regional security, counterterrorism cooperation, and trade under frameworks such as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
The nominations now move to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for review before potential confirmation votes in the full chamber.
