Envoy hopes to repair tattered US image

As ambassador to Italy, David Thorne wants to improve America's image abroad.

C.M. SennottJuly 24, 2009 21:44Updated May 30, 2010 12:03

A protester holds a U.S. flag during a demonstration in downtown Vicenza, Italy, Jan. 18, 2007 against the expansion of a U.S. military base in the city. (Max Rossi/Reuters)

BOSTON – When the U.S. Senate confirms political appointees to ambassadorial posts, it can often cause eyes to roll.

Too often in American diplomacy, these important postings are handed out to those who bundle millions of dollars for candidates or through crass political favors, with little consideration for the qualifications of the nominee.

But when the Senate voted Friday to confirm the political appointee David Thorne as an ambassador, there was not much room for cynical grumbling.

The well-respected, well-connected Boston entrepreneur was nominated by President Obama and confirmed in the U.S. Senate as the Ambassador to the Italian Republic and the Republic of San Marino.

And the posting in Rome for Thorne is really a way of going back to the place he once considered home.

Thorne came of age in Rome: His father took the family there to live when Thorne was eight years old. His Italian is fluent and his knowledge of the country’s history and its place in the world is deep.

He is full of ideas he wants to bring to the position, including using his experience with the web and new media to promote the mission of the embassy.

“I am honored by the chance to do public service,” said Thorne in an interview with GlobalPost.

“And I feel I have a lot to bring to this post,” added Thorne, a co-founder of Adviser Investments, which specializes in Vanguard and Fidelity mutual funds and electronically traded funds.

Thorne, 64, who lives in Brookline with his wife, Rose, and two children, has been involved in a wide variety of business ventures, including marketing consulting, real estate, publishing, and financial services. He is also an investor in GlobalPost.

Thorne’s father, Landon Thorne, Jr., who hailed from a prominent Republican family, was appointed by President Dwight Eisenhower to administer the Marshall Plan in Italy in 1953. And the Thorne family lived there for more than 20 years.

“I remember the style and the elegance and the way things were at that time,” he said of his upbringing in the old world diplomatic circles in which his family lived.