Trump Picks Jamie McCourt, Former Dodgers Owner, As Ambassador To France

The White House announced in a statement Wednesday that President Donald Trump has picked California businesswoman and former Los Angeles Dodgers President and CEO Jamie McCourt to become the next U.S. ambassador to France and Monaco.

"Jamie McCourt, of California, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the French Republic, and to serve concurrently and without additional compensation as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Principality of Monaco," the statement said. It also said the president withdrew Jamie’s nomination for the post as ambassador to Belgium, which had been decided in June.

"Jamie McCourt, of California, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Kingdom of Belgium, which was sent to the Senate on June 26, 2017," the withdrawal sent to the Senate specified in the statement.

Read: Who Is Callista Gingrich? Next US Ambassador To Vatican Could Be Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s Wife

The 63-year-old McCourt, whose nomination is yet to be confirmed by Senate, was the president and CEO of the Los Angeles Dodgers until October 2009 when she was fired by her then-husband, Frank. Major League Baseball took over the Dodgers in 2011, after which the team found it difficult to meet payroll requirements and eventually went bankrupt before being sold for $2 billion that year.

The sale played a major part in the McCourt's subsequently messy divorce, which included a trial in 2010 regarding the ownership rights to the team before ultimately being finalized in 2012. She agreed to take $131 million and four homes in their divorce settlement before the revelation of the price of the Dodgers sale prompted her to unsuccessfully ask the court to increase her settlement.

Jamie said during an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 2016, she got a bad deal in her divorce agreement because she did not concentrate on her family finances.

"I could not have been more ignorant or naive about my own financial situation, and I ended up paying dearly for that mistake," Jamie told the LA Times in January 2016. "In fact, I have a thesis that the smarter a woman is, the more she thinks she can handle everything and fix everything. And I’m here to tell you that’s not true."

McCourt founded her investment firm Jamie Enterprises in 2009, which primarily invests in technology startups, high-value real estate, and biotechnology ventures. On the company's website, she is described as an "entrepreneur, real estate developer, educator, art collector, food and wine connoisseur and philanthropist."

After being removed from her post at the Dodgers, she spent her time as a real estate developer and was also an adjunct professor at UCLA Anderson School of Management. Her class at the institution, "The Pursuit of Leadership: A Female Perspective," which she had conducted from 2005 to 2011, "was the first accredited graduate-level leadership course specifically designed for women at a leading U.S. business school," according to her bio on her company website.

Read: Is The Russian Ambassador Going Home? Sergey Kislyak's Retirement Party Set For July 11

She was also reportedly planning a national initiative to teach financial literacy to grade-school girls as part of a desire to teach women it is not wrong to want wealth.

"I had comingled all of my money -- handed it over to him with no questions asked. I thought we were in it together, for the four boys. I could not have been more wrong," she was quoted saying by LA Times. "I had to listen to him and his lawyers tell the court that, in spite of our 40 years together and 32 years of marriage, I deserved nothing. And I mean nothing. He said, and I quote, ‘She’s lucky to have been along for the ride.’"

Currently based in Los Angeles, she holds a law degree from the University of Maryland and an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She also has degrees from Georgetown University and the Paris-Sorbonne University in France. She has also studied and lived in the southern French city of Aix-en-Provence. "Jamie began her career practicing law for 14 years in New York and Massachusetts, and subsequently focused on real estate development for 10 years," her bio reads.