Joe Biden Nominates Kathleen Ann Kavalec to Be Ambassador to Romania

Joe Biden announced his intention to nominate Kathleen Ann Kavalec to be the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Romania. It is the first time that the American administration has ever nominated a woman to be ambassador to Romania.

According to a press release of the White House, Kathleen Ann Kavalec is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor who currently serves as the Head of Mission at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, on detail from the Department of State since 2019.

Previously, she served as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. Before that, Kavalec was the Director of the Office of Russian Affairs and the Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Mission UNESCO in Paris, France. Kavalec oversaw significant U.S. foreign assistance programs as Deputy Coordinator for Assistance in the European Bureau and as Director for Conflict Prevention in the Coordinator’s Office for Reconstruction and Stabilization. 

With a vast experience in this part of Europe, Kavalec’s other overseas assignments include service as Cultural Affairs Officer, U.S. Embassy Bucharest, Romania; Political Counselor, U.S. Embassy Kyiv, Ukraine; and Political Officer, U.S. Embassy Moscow, Russia (twice). In Washington, she served as a Legislative Management Officer in the Bureau of Legislative Affairs and as Director of the Economic Unit in the Office of the Coordinator for Assistance for the New Independent States. A native of California, 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. Kavalec is the recipient of numerous State Department awards, as well as the Presidential Rank Award. 

According to the press release, she speaks Romanian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Russian as foreign languages.

The former U.S. ambassador to Romania, HE Adrian Zuckerman, born in Romania, ended his mandate before the term in January 2021 after the riot in Capitol.

The nomination is to be voted on and approved by Congress after auditions.