A career diplomat and member of the Senior Foreign Service, Lawrence Petroni began his assignment as Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Quito and Consulate General in Guayaquil in July 2023.

Mr. Petroni (or Lawrence) most recently served as Acting Director of the State Department’s Office of UN Political Affairs, having joined the office as Deputy Director in 2021.  He previously served as Acting Deputy Chief of Mission in Santiago, Chile from 2020-2021, after arriving as the Counselor for Economic and Political Affairs in 2018.  Other overseas assignments include as Political Counselor in Lima, Peru and Deputy Economic Counselor in Bangkok, Thailand, as well as postings in Rome, Italy, and Bogota, Colombia.  Mr. Petroni has also served as a Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Civilian Security; South America Team Lead in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement; and crisis management officer in the State Department’s Operations Center.  Prior to joining the Department of State, he interned in the White House and taught English in rural Costa Rica.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Gettysburg College and a Master of Arts degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.  He speaks Spanish, and some Italian, Thai, and Portuguese.  Born and raised in the suburbs of New York City, he is married and has one son.