Kathleen Kavalec was sworn in as Ambassador to Romania on December 20, 2022.  Previously, Ambassador Kavalec served as the Head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2019-2022.  Prior to that, she was Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs (EUR) at the Department of State.

A career U.S. diplomat, Ambassador Kavalec has held a variety of diplomatic assignments, including Director for Russian Affairs, Deputy Permanent Delegate and Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Mission to the UNESCO in Paris, Deputy Coordinator for U.S. Assistance to Europe, Eurasia and Central Asia, and Director of Conflict Prevention in the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization.  Her overseas assignments have included service as the Political Counselor in Ukraine, two tours in Russia covering political issues, as well as tours in Romania and Brazil. In Romania, she served as Cultural Attaché between 2005 and 2008.  She is the recipient of numerous State Department awards, as well as a Presidential Rank Award.

Ambassador Kavalec holds an A.B. in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley and a Master’s in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.  Her foreign languages include Romanian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian.  She is married and has three children.