Obama's choice for ambassador to UK is a Chicago business man

with a home on Nantucket, who is a friend of the Kerrys. (He was Kerry national national finance chairman - he joined Obama's team in January 2006) The article also says:

"Almost in passing, Shipman speculated on a reason why Obama might owe Susman -- big time, as in had Susman not made a suggestion to Kerry, his friend and neighbor in Nantucket, Obama might not be president. Shipman writes that Susman "talent-spotted" Obama and might have been instrumental in Kerry's decision to bestow upon Obama the keynote speech at the Democratic convention in 2004. That speech made Obama a celebrity, a man who was mobbed when he walked down the street. It propelled his memoir, which hadn't sold particularly well when it was first published in 1995, onto the bestseller lists where it still resides. It gave the Obama family millions of dollars in royalties and millions more in a new advance, and thereby brought Michelle Obama, who worried about her family's finances, on board for the long slog to the White House."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carol-felsenthal/ambassador-to-the-court-o_b_175564.html