Pettit, James D., 1956-

James Pettit (born 1956) is an American diplomat. He most notably served as U.S. Ambassador to Moldova (2015-2018).

Born in North Dakota, Pettit moved to Hamburg, Iowa at the age of seven, and later to Council Bluffs, Iowa at the age of fifteen. He attended Iowa State University, graduating in 1978 with a degree in international studies and Russian. His first professional job after college was as a letter of credit specialist in the international division of First American Bank in Washington, D.C., beginning in 1979.

Pettit joined the Foreign Service in 1981, with his first posting as a consular officer in Guadalajara, Mexico. He got to put his Russian to work for the first time in 1983, when he was moved to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow as a general services officer and political officer. In 1986, Pettit was sent to Taiwan as consular officer in the American Institute, which serves as a de facto embassy in that country. He returned to Washington in 1988 as a desk officer in the State Department’s Office of Cuban Affairs. In 1990, Pettit was moved to a similar role in the department’s Taiwan Coordination Office. Pettit returned to Moscow as deputy consul general in 1992, serving there for two years.

After that tour, he took a break to study at the National War College in Washington, where he earned an M.A. in National Strategic Studies in 1995. He remained in the capital, working first as director of the Washington Processing Center for the Soviet refugee program and beginning in 1997 as chief of the Post Liaison Division in Visa Services, which provides guidance and supervision to Foreign Service posts on visa matters and coordinates between posts.

In 1999, Pettit went to Vienna as the consul general in the U.S. Embassy to Austria. He returned to Moscow in 2003 in a similar role in the embassy there. Much of his time was spent working with American companies who had difficulties getting permission for their employees to travel to the United States. Pettit moved to Kiev, Ukraine in 2007 as deputy chief of mission in the U.S. Embassy. He returned to Washington in 2010 as deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of Consular Affairs, remaining there until the start of his ambassadorship.

Pettit was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Moldova on January 16, 2015. He presented his credentials to President Nicolae Timofti on January 30, 2015. In 2018 Pettit announced support the United States would provide Moldova in economic development as Moldova embraced government reforms and sought to eliminate corruption. The country has been known as a money laundering haven. He remained in the role until September 24, 2018.

In 1981 Pettit married Nancy Bikoff Pettit, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Latvia (2015-2019). The couple have two grown children. In addition to English he speaks Russian, Spanish, German, Mandarin Chinese, and Romanian.