Ludwig, Mr. Alexis - DOS

State Department Chair

A Senior Foreign Service Officer from California, Alexis Ludwig joined the State Department in January 1994 and the National War College faculty in July 2020.

Alexis served from 2018-2020 as Deputy Permanent Representative at the U.S. Mission to the Organization of American States, helping manage our relationships with the premier multilateral organization in the Western Hemisphere and its 33 other member states.

From 2016-2018, Alexis served in the State Department’s Human Resources bureau as a Career Development Officer for Senior Level Foreign Service Officers, where his responsibilities included helping administer the assignment committees that selected career Ambassadors, Deputy Chiefs of Mission and Consuls General. 

As a Foreign Service Officer with a functional specialization in political affairs and a recent geographic focus on Latin America, Alexis served as Counselor for Political Affairs, successively, in our Embassies in Lima (2006-2010), Buenos Aires (2010-2013) and Brasilia (2013-2016.)   Prior to that he was Deputy Economic-Political Counselor in U.S. Embassy La Paz (2003-2006.)

Alexis has a secondary professional focus on the East Asia and the Pacific - having served as Human Rights officer in Kuala Lumpur (2000-2003), Indonesia desk officer in the State Department (1998-2000,) and Political-Military Officer in Tokyo (1996-1998).  His first Foreign Service tour was as vice-consul in Guatemala City (1994-1996).

Alexis has a Master’s degree in East Asian studies from the University of Washington in Seattle and a Bachelor’s degree in literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He speaks Spanish, French and Portuguese.  He has served as Chair of the Foreign Service Journal’s Editorial Board since 2018, and published occasional essays in the Foreign Service Journal, Catamaran Literary Reader and other venues.