Mr. Watzlavick’s initial posting was Warsaw from 2000-2002 and then Bogotá from 2002-2005.  From 2005-2007, Mr. Watzlavick was a Special Assistant to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.  From 2007-2009, he was the Political-Military Affairs Chief in Manila.  He served as Press Attaché in Santiago from 2009-2012.  From 2012-2014, he was Director of the East Asia and Pacific Media Hub in Tokyo.  In 2014-2015, he attended the Marine Corps War College, and from 2015-2017 was Director for Press and Public Diplomacy and Bureau Spokesperson for the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs in Washington. From 2017-2018, Mr. Watzlavick served as Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and from 2018-2020, he was the Counselor for Public Affairs at U.S. Embassy Nairobi. His work has focused extensively on civil-military coordination to combat terrorism, transnational crime, and nation-state adversaries.

From 1990 to 1997, Mr. Watzlavick worked first as a journalist covering political and economic issues in Latin America, and later as a business communications liaison for state and local government in Texas.  Immediately prior to joining the Foreign Service, Mr. Watzlavick worked as an Associate for ICF Consulting in Washington, D.C., managing communications strategy for U.S. state and federal government programs. 

Mr. Watzlavick holds an undergraduate degree in zoology with a minor in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin, a master’s degree in public policy from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, and a master’s degree in National Security Studies from the U.S. Marine Corps War College.  He is married to retired Foreign Service Specialist Dawn Watzlavick, also from Texas, and they have two children, ages 20 and 18.