Laura Farnsworth Dogu

Laura Farnsworth Dogu (born 1964)^[2] is an American diplomat serving as the U.S. Chargé d'Affaires to Venezuela.^[3] She previously served as the United States Ambassador to Honduras in the Biden and second Trump administrations as well as the United States Ambassador to Nicaragua in the Obama and first Trump administrations.^[4]

Dogu is a resident of Texas. Her father was a career Naval officer.^[5] Dogu earned a B.A., B.B.A. (1985) and M.B.A. (1989) from Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She graduated with an M.S. from the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy in 2007.

Dogu began her career as a marketing representative for IBM, where she worked for five years. After joining the Foreign Service, she became a consular officer at the embassy in San Salvador in 1991. She then served as a consular and political officer at the American Embassy in Turkey. Returning to Washington, D.C., in 1996, she was assigned to the State Department operations center. A year later she became a staff assistant in the Bureau of Consular Affairs. International assignments followed in Egypt, Turkey and Mexico. When she was nominated by President Obama to become U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua, she was serving as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.

On May 13, 2015, President Barack Obama nominated Dogu to be the next ambassador to Nicaragua.^[6] Hearings were held before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on her nomination on July 15, 2015. On July 29, 2015, the committee favorably reported the nomination to the Senate floor. Dogu was confirmed by the entire Senate via voice vote on August 5, 2015.^[7]

On November 5, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Dogu to be the next ambassador to Honduras.^[8] Hearings were held before the Foreign Relations Committee on February 8, 2022. The committee favorably reported her nomination to the Senate floor on March 8, 2022. The entire Senate confirmed Dogu via voice vote on March 10, 2022.^[9] She arrived in Honduras on April 6, 2022, and presented her credentials to President of Honduras Xiomara Castro on April 12.^[10] She left Honduras on April 18, 2025,^[11] and subsequently served as the Foreign Policy Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine.^[1]

On January 22, 2026, President Donald Trump tapped her as the United States’s top diplomat in Venezuela as the administration looks to control the country’s oil industry following its capture of Venezuela’s former leader, Nicolás Maduro, earlier this month.^[1] As part of the restoration of relations between Washington and Caracas, she arrived at Maiquetia International Airport on January 31.^[12] On February 2, she met with Venezuelan interim president Delcy Rodríguez at the Miraflores Palace to discuss "the work agenda between the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the United States of America".^[13]

Dogu and her husband, Aydin, have two children. She speaks Spanish, Turkish, and Arabic.^[14]

Along with Taylor Larimore, Mel Lindauer, and Richard Ferri, Dogu co-authored The Bogleheads' Guide to Retirement Planning. She is one of the leaders of the online Bogleheads (www.bogleheads.org).^[15][16]