Jamaica's Ambassador to the United States Professor Stephen Vasciannie presented his credentials to the President of the United States Barack Obama at the White House on July 30, 2012.
Ambassador Vasciannie is also Jamaica’s permanent representative to the Organization of American States and recently was named chair of the OAS Permanent Council and will hold the position for three months.
Prior to his appointment, Vasciannie was principal of the Norman Manley Law School at the University of the West Indies (UWI) and Chairman of the Board of Governors at his alma mater, Kingston College.
He was educated at Kingston College, University of the West Indies, Oxford University and Cambridge University. He was called to the New York Bar in 1990 and later the Jamaican Bar. In 1988 he completed the DPhil in international law at the University of Oxford.
Vasciannie has been chairman of the Air Policy Committee of the Jamaican Government, chairman of the Caribbean Conference on Maritime Delineation, and a member of the Inter-American Judicial Committee. He has also served as a member of the board of the Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica Limited and as chairman of the board of Scotia DBG Investments. In 2006, he was elected to serve for five years on the United Nations International Law Commission.