Jeff Olesen retired in 2012 from the U.S. State Department as a Senior Foreign Service Officer. He served several two-to-four-year postings including Guadalajara, Mexico; Abu Dhabi, UAE, Lahore, Pakistan, Washington, DC; Budapest, Hungary; Almaty, Kazakhstan; Athens, Greece; Vienna, Austria and Miami, FL. Since retiring he has done a number of short two-to-four-month tours for the Foreign Service in Luxembourg, Vienna, Kyiv, and in Turkey in Adana, Ankara (three times) and Istanbul (five times).

Jeff graduated from Cornell University with a B.A. in History and Government. He earned an M.B.A in Finance from West Virginia University. Before joining the Foreign Service, he worked for 17 years in the private sector, working in retailing for seven years with Montgomery Ward and then in finance working with Merrill Lynch, Smith Barney and his own firm, Olesen, Houser and Associates.

Jeff has remained active in retirement serving on the boards and then ultimately as President of his church’s charitable foundation, and the Sarasota-Manatee chapters of the United Nations Association of the U.S.A., the Cornell Club, and the Sarasota Chorus of the Keys. He is currently President of the Sarasota Institute of Lifetime Learning (SILL).

Jeff lives in Sarasota, Florida with his wife Linda. They have three children and five grandchildren.