Stanley Escudero
» BA LIBERAL ARTS & SCIENCES, '65
Stanley Escudero dedicated his decades-long career as a public servant to diplomatic emissary in countries throughout Central and South Asia.
After graduating from the University of Florida, where he completed the high honors program and served in student government, Escudero applied for entry into the United States Foreign Service. In 1967, he launched his career as an American diplomat in Pakistan and Niger. He was appointed staff aide to the ambassador and political officer at the American Embassy in Iran, where he later returned in an undercover operation during the Iranian Revolution. Escudero served as the Councilor of Political Affairs to U.S. embassies in Egypt and India and was nominated by former president George H.W. Bush to be the first ever American ambassador to the then newly independent state of Tajikistan. He also served as the U.S. ambassador to Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan and as president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Azerbaijan.
At the time of his retirement in 2000, Escudero was the only American diplomat ever to serve three ambassadorships in the nations of the former Soviet Union. Shortly after his 33-year government tenure, he returned to Azerbaijan as a business consultant and member of the board of Central Asia Energy/Karasu Operating Co., the local arm of Moncrief Oil International. Escudero later founded Shield Bearer LLC, a consulting firm based in Florida and Azerbaijan. He currently writes a political column titled “The Guidepost” for the internet newspaper Headline Surfer and serves on the board of trustees for Daytona State College.