Eric Aldrich joined the U.S. Department of State in 2006 and is the incoming Diplomat in Residence for New Jersey and New York.  He previously served as the Regional Refugee Coordinator for Panama and the Caribbean at U.S. Embassy Panama.  His other assignments include Refugee and Internally Displaced Persons Coordinator at the U.S. consulate in Erbil, Iraq; Cultural Affairs Officer at the American Institute in Taiwan; Political Officer at the U.S. Embassy to Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga, and Tuvalu; Environment, Science, Technology, and Health Officer at U.S. Embassy Beijing; Cultural Affairs Officer at U.S. Embassy Tegucigalpa; and Consular Officer at U.S. Consulate Guangzhou.  He is the recipient of State Department Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards and an Environmental Protection Agency Gold Medal for Exceptional Service (group award). 

Before joining the State Department, Eric worked in New York City at the Chinese-American Planning Council, the Council on Foreign Relations, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, and the Lower East Side Family Union.  He holds an undergraduate degree in history from the University of Chicago and a master’s degree in public health from Yale University.  He and his wife Pilar have two children.  He is from Baltimore, Maryland.