Colonel James W. Pardew, Jr. former U.S. Ambassador
Member of the 1961 Ark State Basketball Championhsip Team - Member os the 1960 Ark State Championship Runner-up Team.
Born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1944, Ambassador Pardew is a native of Jonesboro, Arkansas and a graduate of Nettleton High School. In 1966 he graduated from Arkansas State with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and was Commissioned as a Military Intelligence officer. An ASU ROTC Distinguished Military Graduate, he was also a Senator in the ASU Student Government Association, Co-Editor of the Herald, and President of the Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity. During his 28-year military career he saw combat in Vietnam, served tours of duty in Turkey, Japan, and Germany, and served in Operation Restore Hope in Somalia. During the collapse of the Soviet Union and Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm, he served as Vice Director for Intelligence, as Director of Foreign Intelligence, and Chief of Current Intelligence for the Army General Staff. He has received the Defense Superior Service Medal, was twice awarded the Legion of Merit, two Bronze Stars, the Air Medal, the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service and the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal. Colonel Pardew was appointed as a U.S. Special Representative in December, 1995, following service as the Secretary of Defense Representative to the U.S. peace negotiating team that achieved the Dayton Peace Agreement in the former Yugoslavia. In May, 1996, President Clinton accorded Colonel Pardew the personal rank of Ambassador as the U.S. Special Representative for Military Stabilization in the Balkans.
James W. Pardew has been Ambassador of the United States to Bulgaria since 2002, a period encompassing Bulgaria�s admission to NATO, completion of its accession negotiations for European Union membership and the dedication of a new $70 million U.S. Embassy in Sofia.
Ambassador Pardew previously was the U.S. negotiator of the Framework Agreement in Macedonia, which prevented a full-scale civil war there in 2001. He earlier served as Deputy Special Advisor to the President and Secretary of State for Democracy in the Balkans during the conflict in Kosovo and subsequent peace implementation from 1999-2001. He directed the Military Train and Equip Program for Bosnia from 1996 to 1999, and represented the Secretary of Defense on the U.S. negotiating team that concluded the Dayton Peace Agreement ending the war in Bosnia. His original appointment to the rank of Ambassador took place on August 1, 1997.

Former Ambassador Pardew and his wife the former Kathy Hoffman (of Jonesboro) have three sons; Paul is a U.S. Army Captain, Jon is a U.S. Army Lieutenant, and David is a high school senior.