Indiana Native Revels
In New Role As Costa Rica Envoy
The new U.S. ambassador to Costa Rica says
her interest in Central America stems from
an aid mission she embarked on with
relatives while a teenager living in
Evansville, Indiana.
Anne Slaughter Andrew says the six-week trip
at age 16 to Honduras and Guatemala to
distribute food and medicine to remote
regions changed her perspective and lifetime
ambitions.
"I was always interested in politics, but
not Central America," Andrew told the
Evansville Courier & Press. "But after that,
when I was 16, my passion grew into a
passion for politics, history and foreign
policy.
"I was determined to return one day to
Central America in the service of my
country."
Andrew got her chance Dec. 24 when the
Senate confirmed her as President Barack
Obama's ambassador to Costa Rica.
"There are several ways Costa Rica was a
great fit with my background," Andrew said.
"Of greatest interest to the president, I
believe, was I spent the last 25 years
engaged in the environment and clean
energy."
Andrew, whose husband, Joe Andrew, was
chairman of the Democratic National
Committee from 1999-2001, has worked as an
environmental lawyer and is active with the
Nature Conservancy. She is a member of the
organization's President's National Advisory
Council.
In 2004, Andrew co-founded a medical biotech
consulting firm, the Anson Group, based in
Carmel, and in 2007 she formed New Energy
Nexus, a Washington energy consulting firm.
Andrew says her background is a "good fit"
for Costa Rica, which created a conservation
system that places more than 25 percent of
the country into nature preserves and is a
global model for reforestation and tropical
conservation.
It is committed to becoming carbon neutral
by 2021.
Andrew, daughter Meredith, 16, and son Will,
15, have moved into the ambassador's
residence in San Jose, the capital of Costa
Rica. Her husband is staying in their
Potomac, Md., home and flying down many
weekends.
Andrew said the transition to her new role
and home has been easy.
"One of the things I've found out is the
people of Costa Rica like to be called Ticos
-- just like the people of Indiana like to
be called Hoosiers."
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