Michael Lally
Regional Senior Commercial Officer for Eurasia, and Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs
Michael Lally is Career Minister with the U.S. Department of Commerce. He was Director for International Economics at the White House National Security Council (2023) and previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) in Washington D.C. His area of responsibility included 42 offices with over 400 staff located in the EMEA region, where he focused on trade policy, project advocacy and business facilitation for U.S. firms.
Previously, Mr. Lally was Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs in Europe, based at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels, Belgium, where he led a team of 200 business development professionals located in 24 countries focused on direct sales, policy and market development and project advocacy in the member states of the European Union.
Mr. Lally, a Senior Foreign Service Officer, held previous postings in Mexico, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and began his Foreign Service career in the U.S. Embassy, Kyiv, Ukraine. He also served as the Director of the U.S. Export Assistance Center in Philadelphia.
In addition to his Foreign Service experience, Mr. Lally was Vice President for Business Development with AES, an independent power producer and an Energy Analyst with the Science Applications International Corporation.
Mr. Lally holds a Master’s degree from Indiana University and Bachelor degrees with Honors from The American University in Washington D.C. He is a graduate of the Wharton Management Program of the University of Pennsylvania. He speaks Russian, Spanish and Turkish. He holds Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals for superior federal service in support of U.S. business development in Turkey, Eurasia and Afghanistan. He is a recipient of the Presidential Meritorious Service Award for his performance in Moscow during heightened U.S.-Russian tensions and the Rockwell Anthony Schnabel Award for Advancing U.S. – European Union Relations (2023).
Mr. Lally’s writings have been published in the Christian Science Monitor, the Foreign Service Journal, Turkish Policy Quarterly, and Inside a U.S. Embassy. He has studied trade policy and international security at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and international credit and trade finance at the Thunderbird School of Global Management.
In Summer 2024, he will take up his posting as Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs in Ankara, covering Turkey, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and the Caucasus and Central Asia.