Derek Shearer was named as the U.S. Ambassador to Finland by President Bill Clinton on February 23, 1994. Following confirmation by the Senate, Ambassador Shearer was sworn in on June 16 and presented his credentials to President Martti Ahtisaari on July 1. Ambassador Shearer left his position of Ambassador to Finland on October 31, 1997, returning to his home in California.

Ambassador Shearer was on leave from Occidental College in Los Angeles, where he had served as Professor of Public Policy and Director of the International and Public Affairs Center, which he founded.

During the 1992 presidential campaign, Ambassador Shearer was a senior policy adviser to Governor Bill Clinton and helped to write the campaign’s economic program, Putting People First. Ambassador Shearer was appointed Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs in February, 1993.

Ambassador Shearer has worked previously in government at the national, state and local levels. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter appointed him to the founding Board of Directors of the National Consumer Cooperative Bank. In the 1980's, he served as a city planning commissioner in Santa Monica, California.

Ambassador Shearer received his B.A. from Yale University and his Ph.D. in Public Policy from the Union Graduate School. He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Swedish Bicentennial grant, a German Marshall Fund grant among other grants and awards. In 1991, he was named as a U.S.-Japan Leadership Fellow of the Japan Society. He is the author of numerous books and articles on economic policy and politics; his opinion pieces have appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal and the International Herald Tribune. He has lectured at universities in Norway, Sweden, Japan and Australia - and at universities throughout Finland.

Ambassador Shearer was born in Los Angeles, California on December 5, 1946. He is married to Ruth Goldway, and has three children, Julie, Anthony, and Casey. Their home in the United States is in Santa Monica, California.