Ambassador John Kelly is President of John Kelly Consulting, Inc., an international consulting firm that has assisted international firms with overseas marketing strategies and partnering arrangements since 1994. He is also Ambassador-in-Residence at the Center for International Strategy, Technology and Policy in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Kelly was Assistant Secretary of State for the Near East and South Asia from 1989 to 1991, during the Gulf War and up to the Madrid Middle East Peace Conference. He was American Ambassador in Beirut from 1986 to 1988 during the war years and was U.S. Ambassador in Helsinki, Finland from 1991 to 1994. A career diplomat, John Kelly was four times a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, including service as Principal Deputy for European and Canadian Affairs, as Principal Deputy for Policy Planning, as Senior Deputy for Public Affairs and Deputy Executive Secretary of the Department of State. He is a graduate of Emory University, the Armed Forces Staff College, and received a certificate in advanced international studies from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University. He speaks French and Thai fluently and Turkish, Spanish and Finnish with less command.