Global Touch

A 26-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service, capped with an ambassadorship, was essentially a lifelong lesson in leadership for Robert Weisberg.

A part-time Sarasota resident, now retired from government, Weisberg started his career in 1982 in what was then Bombay, India. He left the service in 2008 at the pinnacle of his field after he served two years as Ambassador to the Republic of Congo. It was technically a political appointment that required both a nomination from President George W. Bush and U.S. Senate approval. But Weisberg is an anomaly in that he earned his post through his Foreign Service expertise and experience — not by a large donation to a politician or political party.

The long list of countries Weisberg has held leadership positions in include Lithuania, Poland and Indonesia, where he was stationed on Sept. 11, 2001. He was deputy chief of mission in Finland, and he worked in Norway for three of that country's most famous moments: The Oslo Peace Accords; Nelson Mandela's Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in 1993; and the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer.