President Joe Biden on Friday nominated Kathleen Ann Kavalec, a former U.S. State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs as Ambassador to Romania.
Ms Kavalec has previously served as a diplomat in Moscow, Kyiv and Bucharest and her nomination comes at a crucial time for U.S-Romanian relations, three months after Russia invaded Ukraine which borders Romania.
The U.S. has been without an ambassdor since Jan. 2021 when the former envoy Adrian Zuckerman, a political appointment, resigned after Donald Trump lost the presidential elections to Joe Biden.
Ms Kavalec currently serves as the Head of Mission at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Ms Kavalec who has more than 30 years experience as a diplomat previously, she served as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.
Before that she was the Director of the Office of Russian Affairs and the Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Mission UNESCO in Paris.
She oversaw major U.S. foreign assistance programs as Deputy Coordinator for Assistance in the European Bureau, and as Director for Conflict Prevention in the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization.
Kavalec’s other overseas assignments include service as cultural affairs officer at the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest, political counselor, U.S. Embassy Kyiv and political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
A native of California, Ms Kavalec earned her A.B. in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley and a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
She is the recipient of numerous State Department awards, as well as the Presidential Rank Award. She speaks Romanian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Russian.
Her nomination needs to be confirmed by the Senate.
