Serving under nine U.S. presidents, Ambassador Creagan began his career at the Agency for International Development under President Kennedy and was appointed to the Foreign Service by President Lyndon B. Johnson. During a diplomatic career spanning three decades, he held positions as Chargé d’Affaires and Deputy Ambassador to Italy and, separately, the Holy See; Consul General in Sao Paulo, Brazil; Political Counselor in Brazil and Portugal; U.S. Consul in Naples, Italy; political officer in U.S. Embassies in Lima, Mexico City, San Salvador and Rome. He was named U.S. Ambassador to Honduras by President Clinton in 1996. In 2009, under President Obama, Ambassador Creagan served as Chargé d’Affaires to Bolivia and Chief of the US Mission there. He was an International Observer for presidential elections in Honduras.

Creagan retired from the Foreign Service in 1999, and became president of John Cabot University in Rome, Italy. Under his leadership the university more than doubled its enrollment, and it achieved American accreditation. In August 2005, he was named President Emeritus. Creagan was Guest Scholar at the Kellogg Institute, University of Notre Dame in 2005. In 2006 Ambassador Creagan joined the University of the Incarnate Word as Ambassador in Residence and Professor. In 2016, Ambassador Creagan was named Professor of International Diplomacy at St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, Texas. In 2022 Creagan returned to the University of the Incarnate Word as Ambassador in Residence, professor and Fellow of the Liza and Jack Lewis Center of the Americas.

Creagan’s awards include Honorary Citizen of Honduras, Boston Archdiocese’s Caritas Christi Award for Humanitarian Service, Cavalier of the Order of St. Gregory from the Holy See and the Italian Order of Merit, Commendatore, along with numerous U.S. government awards.

Ambassador Creagan is a member of the Cosmos Club of Washington, D.C. He is a Member of the Board of the San Antonio World Affairs Council, and member of the Latin American Advisory Council of the University of Notre Dame. He is on the board of the Texas Water Mission and the Advisory Council of the US Global Leadership Coalition. He is also on the board of the San Antonio Council for International Visitors. He works with the Fulbright Association of San Antonio. Creagan has been a Trustee of Hiram College, Ohio and has given the Commencement addresses at Hiram and Wesley Colleges.

Ambassador Creagan graduated from the University of Notre Dame and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. He has been professor at Texas A&M as well as UIW and St. Mary’s Universities.

Ambassador Creagan speaks Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.