Ambassador Stephen M. Young will assume his responsibilities as U.S. Consul General in Hong Kong beginning in March, the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong announced Thursday.

As Consul General, he will be responsible for the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, said the consulate in a press statement.

Young was born in Washington, D.C. and educated at Wesleyan University, where he received a B.A. (1973), and the University of Chicago, where he received an M.A. (1974) and a Ph.D (1980) in history.

Young joined the State Department in 1980. Most recently, he was a member of the faculty at National Defense University's Industrial College of the Armed Forces, located at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C.

Within the State Department, he was the Director of the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs. Young speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese and Russian.

Young is married to Barbara A. Finamore, an attorney who heads the China Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council. They have three children.