U.S. Embassy in Malaysia

Manu Bhalla
Chargé d’Affaires, a.i.
U.S. Embassy Kuala Lumpur

Chargé d’Affaires Manu Bhalla has served as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur since August 2023.  A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, his prior assignment was the Director of the Office of Economic Policy and Alternate Senior Official for APEC in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs in Washington, D.C.  His previous roles with the Department of State have included serving as the Deputy-Director of the Office of Maritime Southeast Asia; Director of the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) Regional Offices in Rabat and Abu Dhabi; Economic Section Chief in Singapore; Political Unit Chief in Kabul; Environment, Science, Technology, and Health Hub Officer for the Middle East, based in Jordan; staff assistant in the EAP Bureau; and, vice-consul and Political Officer in the Philippines.

Prior to joining the Department of State, Mr. Bhalla spent 12 years in consulting and business development roles in over 20 countries.  His positions included the VP for Professional Services at Internet Commerce Services in New Hampshire, VP for International Operations for M&I Bank.  His seven years with SEER Technologies included tenures as Consulting Manager for Asia (Singapore) and Consulting Manager for Scandinavia (Copenhagen).

Manu has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Danish Engineering Academy, an MBA from Boston College, and a M.S. in National Security Strategy from the National War College.  He speaks Danish, Hindi, and some Spanish.