Following its completion, he served as Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Consulate in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

In 1997, he was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia where he served a Counselor for Public Affairs until June 2000.

In July 2005, he started teaching at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy of Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. His lectures were on politics of Iraq.

[4][5] On June 11, 2009, he was appointed United States Ambassador to Oman by President Barack Obama.

He was sworn in on August 20, 2009 replacing Gary A. Grappo who had served as Ambassador to Oman since March 6, 2006.