Ambassador James Story is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center. He served as both ambassador and chargé d’affaires to Venezuela from 2018 to 2023 and is a founding partner of Global Frontier Advisors.

In June 2024, Ambassador Story was nominated as ambassador to Mozambique. While awaiting the nomination process, he taught as a senior fellow at Georgetown University and served as chargé d’affaires  at the US embassy to Angola and Sao Tome and Principe, as well as chargé d’affaires in Eswatini and to the Dutch Caribbean from Curacao. He retired in May 2025.

A career senior foreign service officer, Ambassador Story served as consul general in Rio de Janeiro; director of the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law (INL) Enforcement Affairs Office for the Western Hemisphere; director of the INL Office in Bogotá; and senior civilian representative in southeastern Afghanistan. His previous assignments include São Paulo, as deputy principal officer and political economic chief; Brasilia as regional environmental affairs director for South America; Guadalajara, as a consular officer; and the US Mission to the United Nations as the ambassador’s staff assistant.

Ambassador Story received numerous State Department and interagency awards, including the Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards, the Department of the Army Superior Civilian Service Award, the Warren Christopher Award for Outstanding Achievement in Global Affairs, the Distinguished Honor Award for the Western Hemisphere Bureau, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence Exceptional Service Award. He grew up in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, and holds a BA/BSc from the University of South Carolina and an MSc in foreign service from Georgetown University. He speaks Portuguese and Spanish. He is married to Susan West Story, and they have a son, James McKelvey “Mac” Story.