Jonathan Beutler







Jonathan M. Beutler is a Southern California-based public affairs professional, Los Angeles County Commissioner, and a former U.S. diplomat. He currently works as Director of Public Affairs at Sunrider International, a Los Angeles-based multinational health & wellness corporation. An active community leader, Jonathan proudly serves as a Los Angeles County Commissioner. He is also a delegate to the California Democratic Party and a National Security Fellow at the DC-based Truman National Security Project (and previously served as the organization’s political director in Los Angeles). Jonathan is involved in a variety of civic groups and international affairs organizations in California and elsewhere. He is the immediate past Chairman of the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce and the immediate past president of the Harbor City Harbor Gateway Chamber of Commerce. Also active in national politics, Jonathan was a member of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 National Finance Committee and has been involved in numerous congressional campaigns.


Previous Experience
Previously, Jonathan served in the Foreign Service of the U.S. Department of State, under the Obama Administration. As a diplomat, Jonathan served in Washington DC and at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo Japan. In Washington, he served in the Executive Secretariat's Operations Center on special task forces to monitor crises in the Middle East and also to assist American citizens affected by the 2011 triple disaster in Japan's Tohoku region. At Embassy Tokyo, Jonathan served partly in the Consular Section, leading that office's Congressional correspondence and public communication efforts (both routine and crisis), and overseeing the reporting (to Washington) on and successful advocacy (in the Japanese Diet and at the Ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs) for Japan’s accession to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. As a public diplomacy officer, Jonathan managed numerous State Department-funded official visitor programs, spoke to numerous audiences about American policy, culture, and education, and also maintained the Embassy's official blog. Ambassador John Roos appointed Jonathan to oversee the Embassy's role in the TOMODACHI Initiative, a public-private partnership born in the aftermath of the March 2011 disaster in northeastern Japan and dedicated to the development of the next generation of U.S.-Japan relationship leaders. Jonathan also managed support teams for official visits by Vice President Joe Biden, both Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, numerous Congressional delegations, high-level State Department officials, and a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Jonathan also created, edited, and contributed to multiple official Department cables, as well as speeches for Department principals and even President Barack Obama.

Jonathan credits his joining America's diplomatic service to three key events: 1) a presentation about international careers during the 6th grade by a Peace Corps volunteer who had served in Africa, 2) a visit to the U.S. Embassy in Madrid while he was an exchange student in Spain, and 3) several years later, an encouraging conversation Jonathan had with former U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher, during a welcome reception for the Foreign Minister of Pakistan in Los Angeles.

Prior to his State Department service, Jonathan enjoyed stints with the U.S. Department of Commerce in Hong Kong, the Embassy of Mexico in Washington, and as a service volunteer in São Paulo, Brazil. Jonathan has also worked as an intern in the offices of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. In the political realm, Jonathan has participated in various local, state, and national campaigns and has been active as a delegate to the California Democratic Party for several years.

As an active community leader, Jonathan has served on the Board of Directors of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles, as well as a member of the Community Advisory Boards for both the Torrance Cultural Arts Foundation and Pediatric Therapy Network, and sat previously on the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Maritime Museum.

A devoted citizen of California, Jonathan has served on both the University of California's Committee on Technology in Oakland and the UCLA Chancellor's Advisory Board on Religion and Ethics.

Jonathan is a graduate of UCLA’s School of Public Affairs and speaks English, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, as well as some Mandarin Chinese, Italian, and German. Having lived in Asia, Europe, South America, and throughout the U.S., Jonathan now resides in the global crossroads that is the global city-region of Los Angeles.



Disclaimer: This website is not affiliated with the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, the Department of State, or any part of the government of the United States. This is a personal website.