Martin Dahinden

Background

About Martin Dahinden

Martin Dahinden is a former Swiss diplomat. He held the position as Ambassador of Switzerland to the United States of America from 2014 to August 2019. Prior to that, he served as Director of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) from 2008 to 2014 and headed the Directorate of Corporate Management of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) from 2004 to 2008. During his long career in the Swiss diplomatic service, Martin Dahinden has served as Director of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, as a member of the Swiss Delegation to GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), at the Embassy of Switzerland in Paris, as Deputy to the Swiss Ambassador in Nigeria, and in a temporary posting at the Swiss Mission to the UN in New York. In addition, he worked in the FDFA's Service for Disarmament Policy and Nuclear Issues, as Head of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) Service of the Directorate of Political Affairs, and held the position of Deputy Head of the OSCE Coordination Unit during the Swiss Chairmanship of the OSCE in 1996. The following year, he was sent abroad as Deputy Head of the Swiss Mission to NATO in Brussels. Martin Dahinden was born in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1955. He earned a Ph.D. in Economics (Business Administration) from the University of Zurich. Before joining the diplomatic service, he worked as a postgraduate assistant at the university, and was then employed by a bank and a publishing house. Ambassador Dahinden is married to Anita Dahinden and they have two children, Robert and Andrea.