H.E. Mr. Jackson Soram has been serving as the Ambassador of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) to the United States since 2024. He is also cross-accredited as FSM
Ambassador to the State of Israel and currently the FSM Ambassador-designate to Canada.
A career diplomat with 20+ years of experience since 2022, Ambassador Soram has held notable roles within the Department of Foreign Affairs including Assistant Secretary for Asia, Pacific, Africa, and Multilateral Affairs (APAMA), Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multilateral Affairs, and Deputy Assistant Secretary for European Affairs. Through these various roles, he worked in areas such as climate change, fisheries, human rights, food security, gender equality, oceans, and global security, among others. Ambassador Soram has led many bilateral and international meetings, including as the Head of Delegation to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva presenting the first FSM national human rights report under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
Overseas, Ambassador Soram served as the Deputy Chief of Mission to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from 2013 – 2016 and Deputy Chief of Mission in the United States from 2017 – 2023, prior to assuming his current post as Ambassador to the United States.
Ambassador Soram has also held other important roles at the National Government. From 2013 – 2015, he served as Chairman of the FSM Board of Directors of the National Oceanic Resource Management Authority (NORMA), charged with the responsibility to formulate national fisheries policies, and as lead negotiator on all fisheries agreements with distant water fishing nations. He also served as the National Correspondent (NC) for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). From 2020 – 2023, he served as a resource person for the FSM Negotiation Team on the Compact Negotiations with the United States. He is the current Chairperson of the Working Group for the Pacific Island Conference of Leaders (PICL
Ambassador Soram’s humble roots started with his formal education at Ettal Elementary School on his remote home island in the Mortlock Islands, then onwards to Xavier High School in Weno, Chuuk, and later studied at the Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu. He has also received extensive educational trainings with various institutions including: the Australia National University (ANU) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) with a certificate in negotiations in international meetings; the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies on international security studies; and the Pacific Island Forum Diplomatic Training in Fiji on international protocol and diplomacy.
Ambassador Soram is married to Karnim Desire Judah Soram with four (4) surviving children: Maverick Soram, Jordan Soram, Joshua Soram, and Naphania-Grace Soram.