On June 3, 2022, President Joe Biden announced his intention to nominate Kathleen Ann Kavalec as U.S. Ambassador to Romania. On June 7, 2022, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee received the nomination.
Kathleen Ann Kavalec, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor, 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 major 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. 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. She speaks Romanian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Russian.
