John Abizaid
John Philip Abizaid (born April 1, 1951) is a retired United States Army general and former United States Central Command (CENTCOM) commander who served as the United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 2019 to 2021. In 2007, Abizaid retired after 34 years of service. As of 2007, Abizaid is employed as a fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He assumed the Distinguished Chair of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point in December 2007. Abizaid was appointed to the board of directors of RPM International on January 24, 2008, and also sits on the board of directors of the Defense Ventures Group. In 2008, he was selected as a Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth College. On November 13, 2018, he was nominated as the United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. He was confirmed by the United States Senate as ambassador on April 10, 2019, and sworn in on April 30, 2019. Abizaid formally presented his credentials to King Salman on June 16, 2019. He resigned on January 20, 2021. He now serves as senior advisor at Albright Stonebridge Group. Early life and education A Lebanese American, Abizaid was born in northern California in 1951, and raised in Coleville,