[3] He was nominated to be the ambassador of the United States to Burkina Faso by President Barack Obama on May 27, 2010,[4] and confirmed by Congress on August 5, 2010.

[5] Dougherty retired as a member of the Senior Foreign Service at the U.S. State Department in July 2016 after a 27-year career.

His overseas assignments as a public affairs officer with USIA and then State were in Yaoundé, Bonn, Asmara, Brazzaville, Jeddah, and Dakar.

[7] Dougherty entered the Foreign Service after working as a dean and teacher in international schools in Belgium and in Switzerland, and as an editor and translator in Germany.

His undergraduate degree from Brown University was followed by graduate work in California and at the Università per Stranieri in Perugia, Italy.