Michel Issa is set to take up his post in Beirut as the new US Ambassador to Lebanon, following the departure of Lisa A. Johnson, whose term ended on September 28, 2025.
Appointed by President Donald Trump, Issa represents a notable departure from the traditional career diplomat, a businessman and former banker stepping into a sensitive diplomatic posting.
His nomination was announced in March and approved by Congress but was confirmed by the US Senate on Tuesday. Issa’s nomination is not a traditional diplomatic appointment. Instead of a career envoy, the United States is sending a figure shaped by decades in international finance and private enterprise.
Born in Lebanon, Issa began his academic journey in Paris, where he earned a degree in Economics from the University of Paris X Nanterre before pursuing advanced banking studies at the Cours d’Études Supérieures de Banques, according to his bio on the US State Department website. Fluent in Arabic, English, and French, he brings both cultural fluency and a personal connection to Lebanon.
Professionally, Issa built an extensive two-decade career in international banking, holding senior roles at institutions including Crédit Agricole Indosuez in New York, Chase Manhattan Bank, and Banco Português do Atlântico in Paris. Renowned for his expertise in foreign exchange trading, he led trading operations, developed complex financial instruments, and chaired compliance and credit committees before retiring from the financial sector in 1999.
That same year, he shifted gears to pursue his passion for automobiles, founding a company that acquired Porsche, Audi, and Volkswagen dealerships in the United States. Under his leadership, the company achieved over $35 million in annual sales and expanded significantly.
Today, Issa is president and CEO of Newton Investment Group LLC, based in New Jersey. Outside the boardroom, he is known for his passion for cars, golf, and tennis—and for a longstanding personal relationship with President Donald Trump, with whom he is said to golf regularly.
With a career spanning finance, entrepreneurship, and now diplomacy, Michel Issa’s appointment underscores a broader US trend of drawing from the private sector for key foreign policy roles. For Lebanon, his arrival could signal a pragmatic approach, one shaped by business insight, global experience, and a personal understanding of the country he is returning to.
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