Michael Lally, a native of New York City, is Career Minister with the U.S. Department of Commerce. He began his assignment as U.S. Consul General in Istanbul in 2025.
Prior to his assignment as Consul General, he served in the U.S. Mission to Türkiye as Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs for Türkiye and the Eurasia region. He was Director for International Economics at the White House National Security Council and previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) in Washington D.C. His area of responsibility included 42 offices with over 400 staff located in the EMEA region, where he focused on trade policy, project advocacy and business facilitation for U.S. firms.
Previously, Mr. Lally was Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs in Europe, based at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels, Belgium. He led a team of 200 business development professionals located in 24 countries focused on direct sales, policy and market development and project advocacy in the member states of the European Union.
Mr. Lally, a Senior Foreign Service Officer, held previous postings in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, and the Russian Federation and began his Foreign Service career in Kyiv, Ukraine. He also served as the Director of the U.S. Export Assistance Center in Philadelphia.
In addition to his Foreign Service experience, Mr. Lally was Vice President for Business Development with AES, an independent power producer and an Energy Analyst with the Science Applications International Corporation.
Mr. Lally holds a master’s degree from Indiana University and Bachelor’s degrees with Honors from The American University in Washington D.C. He is a graduate of the Wharton Management Program of the University of Pennsylvania. He studied trade policy and international security at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and international credit and trade finance at the Thunderbird School of Global Management. He speaks Turkish, Russian, Spanish, and French. He is married and has a daughter.