Jonathan E. Kaplan

For other people with similar names, see Jonathan Kaplan (disambiguation).

Jonathan Eric Kaplan is an American entrepreneur serving as the United States ambassador to Singapore since 2021. Kaplan was previously the chair of EducationSuperHighway, a non-profit organization based in San Francisco.^[1]

Jonathan Kaplan
United States Ambassador to Singapore
Incumbent
Assumed office December 6, 2021
President	Joe Biden
Preceded by	Rafik Mansour
Personal details
Born	Jonathan Eric Kaplan
Education	Carnegie Mellon University (BS)

Education

Kaplan earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration and industrial management from Carnegie Mellon University.^[2][3]

Career

Corporate career

After graduating from college, Kaplan worked for Condé Nast.^[4] He was later the vice president and general manager of Geoworks. He was also the founder and CEO of MovieStreet. Kaplan was the president and CEO of Sega.com and was the chairperson and CEO of Pure Digital Technologies. In his role, Kaplan invented and marketed the Flip Video before the company was acquired and shuttered by Cisco Systems.^[5][6][7] Most recently, Kaplan was the chairperson and CEO of the FishSix Restaurant Corporation, a holding company that owns several grilled cheese sandwich restaurants in California, Texas, and Colorado.^[8][9]

United States ambassador to Singapore

Kaplan with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in January 2022

On July 29, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Kaplan to be the next United States ambassador to Singapore.^[10][11] The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held hearings on his nomination on October 20, 2021. The committee favorably reported Kaplan's nomination to the Senate floor on November 3, 2021. The entire Senate confirmed his nomination on November 19, 2021.^[12][13] On December 6, 2021, he presented his credentials to President Halimah Yacob.^[14][15] In February 2024, the Department of State released a watchdog report suggesting Kaplan mistreated staff and wasted money.^[16][17][18]

References

1. "Mayor London Breed Announces Partnership to Increase Free Internet Access to Support Distance Learning | Office of the Mayor". sfmayor.org. Retrieved 2021-04-20.
2. "May 15: Entrepreneurs Wanted: New Open Field Entrepreneurs Fund To Jumpstart Creation of Innovative Businesses by Carnegie Mellon Graduates - Carnegie Mellon University | CMU". www.cmu.edu. Archived from the original on 2023-02-05. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
3. "President Biden Announces Six Key Nominations". The White House. 2021-07-29. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
4. "Jonathan Kaplan". Tepper Magazine. Archived from the original on July 25, 2020. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
5. Stone, Brad (2008-06-04). "The Flip, a camcorder for regular people". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
6. McNicholas, Kym. "Say Goodbye To The Flip Video Camera. The Melt Is Open For Business". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
7. "Flip camera founder exits top job at his grilled cheese restaurant chain". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
8. "The Melt Storms Back with New Menu, Mantra". QSR magazine. 20 February 2020. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
9. Miller, Claire Cain (2011-06-20). "A Tech Entrepreneur's Plan for Grilled-Cheese Sandwiches". Bits Blog. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
10. Thomas, Ken (2021-07-29). "Biden to Nominate Jonathan Kaplan to Be Ambassador to Singapore". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
11. "President Biden Announces Six Key Nominations" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: The White House. July 29, 2021. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
12. "PN952 — Jonathan Eric Kaplan — Department of State 117th Congress (2021-2022)". US Congress. 19 November 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
13. Yong, Charissa (2021-11-20). "US Senate confirms Biden nominee Jonathan Kaplan as ambassador to S'pore". The Straits Times. ISSN 0585-3923. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
14. "Arrival of Ambassador Jonathan Eric Kaplan". U.S. Embassy in Singapore. 2021-12-06. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
15. "G.N. 2612/2021" (PDF). Republic of Singapore Government Gazette: 1. 8 December 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
16. Jamrisko, Michelle; Martin, Peter; Heijmans, Philip (1 March 2024). "US's Singapore Envoy Is Said to Berate Staff, Waste Money". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
17. "MSN". www.msn.com. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
18. Inspector General, Office Of (Feb 2024). "Inspection of Embassy Singapore, Singapore".

External links

• Appearances on C-SPAN

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Rafik Mansour	United States Ambassador to Singapore 2021–present	Incumbent