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Solomont tapped as ambassador to Spain

E-mail|Link|Comments () August 6, 2009 05:31 PM

By Brian C. Mooney, Globe Staff

Alan D. Solomont, one of the Democratic Party's most prolific fundraisers and an early supporter of Barack Obama, has been selected by the president to be ambassador to Spain and Andorra, according to a White House official.

Alan Solomont

If confirmed by the Senate, Solomont will step down from his business and many philanthropic positions before moving to Madrid, where he will represent US interests.

"I am deeply honored to be nominated, and, if confirmed, it will be a great privilege to serve," Solomont said in a brief interview.

The 60-year-old Weston resident signed on with the Obama campaign in January 2007 when Obama, then a first-term senator from Illinois, was considered a longshot for the Democratic presidential nomination. He chaired the campaign's New England steering committee, which raised vast sums towards the campaign's record-shattering $745 million war chest. On a per capita basis, Massachusetts contributors donated more than Obama supporters in Illinois.

As ambassador, Solomont will head the US mission in Spain, which serves as a diplomatic link to the Spanish government, a US ally, assists US businesses with trade issues, provides consular services to about 80,000 Americans who reside in Spain and another one million American tourists each year, and is involved with cultural and other exchange programs.

Solomont has been a major fundraiser in presidential campaigns since 1988 and was national finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 1997-98.

Ambassadorships are often presidential rewards to prominent political supporters, particularly fundraisers.

Solomont will step down from his position as chairman of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees the AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and Learn and Serve America programs. He was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 2000, reappointed by President George W. Bush in 2007, and elected chairman by the bipartisan board in February.

Solomont will also terminate his firm Solomont Bailis Ventures, which invests in early-stage health care companies, and will step down from positions on the boards of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Tufts University, Hebrew Senior Life in Roslindale, and the Boston Private Bank and Trust. He has already resigned from the board of trustees of Boston Medical Center.

Upon confirmation, Solomont, who is proficient in Spanish, will move to Madrid with his wife, Susan. The couple has two daughters, Rebecca, 23, who resides in Boston, and Stephanie, who turned 18 on the day of her father's nomination and will start college this fall.

Solomont, who made an early fortune in the nursing home business, holds bachelor's degrees in political science and urban studies from Tufts and in nursing from the University of Lowell (now the University of Massachusetts Lowell).