Frank O. Mora, Ph.D., is professor of politics and international relations and senior researcher at the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy at Florida International University.
Dr. Mora is currently U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States. From 2013 to 2020, Dr. Mora served as director of the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center at FIU. Prior to arriving at FIU, he served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Western Hemisphere from 2009–13. He has held several teaching positions, including professor of national security strategy and Latin American studies at the National War College, National Defense University (2004–09), and associate professor and chair in the Department of International Studies, Rhodes College (2000–04).
During the last twenty years Dr. Mora worked as a consultant to the Library of Congress, the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), the National Democratic Institute, the U.S. State Department, the Organization of American States, and U.S. Southern Command. He has spoken at numerous conferences in the United States, Latin America, and Europe. His opinion pieces and other commentaries have appeared in U.S. and Latin American media outlets.
Dr. Mora is the author or editor of five books, including Neighborly Adversaries: U.S.-Latin American Relations (2015); Paraguay and the United States: Distant Allies (2008), and Latin American and Caribbean Foreign Policy (2003); and over thirty academic and policy articles, book chapters, and monographs on hemispheric security, U.S.-Latin American relations, civil-military relations, Cuban politics and the military, and Latin American political economy and integration.
Dr. Mora received his Ph.D. in international affairs and an M.A. in inter-American studies from the University of Miami. He earned his B.A. in international affairs from The George Washington University. He also completed studies at universities in Peru and Costa Rica.
Dr. Mora is a recipient of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service, Department of Defense (2012). In 2022, he was confirmed by the Senate as the Permanent Representative of the United States to the Organization of American States, with the rank of Ambassador.