Former Dallas business executive Nicholas Merrick, now U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic, speaks Jan. 14, 2026, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum in Simi Valley, Calif.
JUAN CARLO/THE STAR/USA TODAY Network via Reuters Co
Nicholas Merrick, right, U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic, joins a discussion Jan. 14, 2026, with Matthew Whitaker, U.S. ambassador to NATO, and Joseph Popolo Jr., U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum in Simi Valley, Calif.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
WASHINGTON – When Nicholas Merrick arrived in Prague as the new ambassador to the Czech Republic, a box of kolaches stamped “West, TX” offered a familiar taste of home.
For the Dallas investment executive turned diplomat, the U.S. Embassy’s pastries were more than a courtesy. They marked a relationship that spans generations, from Czech settlers in Central Texas to today’s trade and security partnerships.
In a video interview from Prague, Merrick said that after nearly a year in the post, those ties have taken on new urgency as the war in Ukraine reshapes political calculations across Europe.
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“That bridge between Texas and Czechia was built a long time before I showed up on the scene,” Merrick said. “My job is to sort of help modernize that bridge and perhaps expand it from four lanes to eight lanes.”
The World Cup has showcased that connection this summer, with the Czech national soccer team picking North Texas as its base camp and Mansfield Stadium as its training site.
The players came with high hopes and a sizable contingent of supporters, but results have been mixed.
Czechia lost 2-1 in its first match against South Korea and tied 1-1 in its second contest against South Africa. Its final group stage match against Mexico is scheduled Wednesday in Mexico City.
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For the team, Dallas’ sprawling suburbs may make for a sharp contrast with Prague’s medieval streets and cathedral spires. But Merrick said there’s plenty of common ground and he wasn’t surprised the Czechs chose North Texas as their headquarters.
“It’s the closest place to home in the United States where they can be,” he said.
Merrick’s road to Prague did not run through the State Department. The 63-year-old built his career in telecommunications and investment management, while also teaching part time at the Cistercian Preparatory School in Dallas.
He often talks about “team victories,” a lesson he traces to his days playing football at the University of Virginia. He said that approach carried into his work as chairman of the pension fund for retired Dallas police officers and firefighters as it recovered from a financial crisis.
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At his Senate confirmation hearing after being nominated by President Donald Trump, Merrick said he would bring a “profound sense of duty” and a businessman’s mindset to the post.
He pledged to protect Americans abroad, deepen engagement with a key NATO ally and support economic opportunities guided by free-market principles and what he called “morally grounded capitalism.”
Diplomatic turn
Most recently, Merrick was the president of Mount Vernon Investments, the family office of Dallas philanthropists Kenny and Lisa Troutt. It was an early investor in Trump’s online platform Truth Social, and the couple are long-time Republican donors.
Those business and political associations brought Merrick into contact with Trump advisers and helped lead to his consideration for an ambassadorship.
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Merrick said in the interview with The Dallas Morning News that he felt a nudge to take on new kinds of challenges. He had been to Central Europe in the early 1990s and retained an interest in the region.
His family’s roots in the region date to a great-great-grandfather who left Croatia when it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
His mother had a doctorate in both European and English history. “Growing up at the dinner table, these were the kinds of things that we talked about,” he said.
He and his wife, Leslie, maintain their home in University Park while posted in Prague, where they live in the historic residence U.S. ambassadors have used since 1947.
As a reminder of Texas, the couple hosted an art exhibit there with panoramic paintings of open roads, moonlit water and bluebonnets rolling across the countryside.
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The embassy he heads is in a pedestrian-dominated older section of Prague, where he said he walks far more than he does in Texas.
“The tone of my life could not be more different than the tone of my life in Dallas,” he said.
Tough love
Being a diplomat requires occasional straight talk with friends.
Earlier this year, Merrick was asked at the last minute to step in as the keynote speaker at a security conference in Prague.
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Merrick and his team used the opportunity to deliver a pointed message: the Czech Republic was in danger of falling behind on defense spending.
Its prime minister had been elected on a message akin to Trump’s America First approach and a draft budget proposed cuts in defense, despite commitments to increase it.
Merrick was to the point, talking about how security can’t be taken for granted in these dangerous times and that allies must meet their obligations.
He invoked last year’s NATO summit in which all 32 members, including Czechia, said they would ramp up core defense spending to 3.5% of gross domestic product.
Merrick noted the proposed budget would put Czechia at 1.8% of GDP, among the lowest levels in NATO.
“If we are serious about defending our people, then we must match words with resources, commitments with capabilities and belief with action,” he said.
Merrick told The News that Czechs generally view NATO favorably and understand the stakes. The country has taken in more Ukrainians per capita than any other nation and supplies many of the large artillery shells Ukraine is using in the war with Russia.
Since his speech, government officials are talking about adding to the defense budget to hit the 3.5% target, he said. Just as important, the debate has shifted from American pressure to a domestic discussion among Czechs.
“We played an appropriate role in helping kind of spur a conversation,” he said, and then got out of the way.
Trade and defense
Merrick’s business background has come into play in another major part of the job: strengthening military and economic bonds.
Earlier this year, Matt Whitaker, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, led a tour through Texas and California where he, Merrick and other American ambassadors met with defense contractors, large and small.
Lockheed Martin was among the major players featured on the trip and the group toured the company’s F-35 production facility in Fort Worth. The Czechs have signed a $5 billion deal to purchase F-35s, with the first aircraft scheduled for delivery in 2029.
Most of the trip focused on smaller companies, including Dallas area-based Shield AI and Firehawk Aerospace.
Merrick also traveled to Texas with First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Karel Havlíček.
Havlíček signed what was billed as the first “declaration of cooperation” between the country and an individual state, aimed at expanding trade and creating opportunities for Czech businesses in Texas.
Merrick, in his Senate appearance, called Czechia a “dynamic and innovative economy” and said he wants more U.S. businesses to participate in its growth.
Once dependent on Russia for its energy needs, Czechia now gets most of its natural gas from Texas. The Texas National Guard and the Czech military also maintain long-standing partnerships.
Texas sent personnel and equipment after floods in Czechia several years ago. Czechia deployed a search-and-rescue team to help with last summer’s devastating flooding in Central Texas.
Common ground
Merrick said the Czech Republic and its neighbors retain deep goodwill toward the United States and an appreciation for the role Americans played in defeating Nazi Germany and helping bring an end to Soviet domination.
In Pilsen, a city in western Czechia, a monument with twin granite pillars bears a simple message: “Thank you, America,” commemorating the liberation of the city in 1945.
The ambassador has participated in several commemorations, attracting hundreds of World War II vintage vehicles and locals dressed in period costume.
In some of the celebrations, he’s even driven a U.S.-made Willys Jeep used by Allied forces.
That shared history lives on in Texas, where thousands of Czech immigrants settled and built communities across the state.
Merrick said he sees parallels between Texans’ skepticism of federal authority and Czechs pushing back on European Union regulations.
“The kind of vibe and culture of Texas and that of Czechs is very, very similar,” he said. “They love the kind of free spirit nature of things. They love to go outdoors. There’s a huge hunting and fishing culture here.”
He recalled a recent trip to a small town in the south of Czechia where he encountered a Czech folk band.
Alongside traditional Czech instruments, one musician played a banjo. About half the band’s set was American country music.
Among their songs: John Denver’s iconic Take Me Home, Country Roads.