President Joe Biden on Tuesday nominated Seattle business and civic leader Roger Nyhus to serve as a U.S. ambassador to several Caribbean nations including St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Nyhus, who hosted Biden for a presidential campaign fundraiser in 2019, was nominated for ambassador to Barbados, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
He’s the founder and former CEO of Nyhus Communications, Seattle-based communication, advocacy and marketing company he sold to a Spokane firm earlier this year. He also worked as former Gov. Gary Locke’s communications director and as a senior advocacy officer for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Nyhus has also been involved in international trade missions to China, Ireland, Cuba and the United Arab Emirates over a 30-year career, according to White House officials.
He’s an enrolled member of the Chinook Indian Nation and has advocated for causes that include advancements in LGBTQ+ and other civil rights, according to a biography he provided.
The son of a commercial fisherman and municipal court clerk, Nyhus grew up in Westport, Grays Harbor County, and ran a summer fishing derby to pay for college, the biography says.
