Career Ambassador Kristie Kenney Bids Farewell After 37 Years of Public Service

May 8, 2017 By in Ambassadors, Foreign Service, FSOs, Retirement, Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State, State Department, Top Ranks, Trends, Trump Tags: , , 2 Comments

Posted: 3:19 am ET
[twitter-follow screen_name=’Diplopundit’]

 

Ambassador Kristie Kenney announced her final day as a U.S. diplomat on April 28 via Twitter.  Ambassador Kenney is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. She was appointed as the 32nd Counselor of the Department of State in 2016 and she served in that role until she stepped down in February 2017.  She served as President George W. Bush’s Ambassador to Ecuador and the Philippines, and President Obama’s Ambassador to Thailand. She was the first female ambassador to both Thailand and the Philippines.  Her Washington, D.C assignments include service as the Executive Secretary of the Department of State, Director of the State Department Operations Center, and as a member of the National Security Council staff under President Clinton. She also served in Argentina, Switzerland and Jamaica.  She is a recipient of the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award and holds the nation’s highest diplomatic rank of Career Ambassador in the United States Foreign Service (she joined in 1980). She served as the Department of State Transition Coordinator for the 2016-17 Transition.

Looking through social media, it is notable to see that members of the foreign publics have expressed appreciation for the work of a U.S. public servant, while some members of the American public seem to have gone out of their ways to be unpleasant strangers to public servants who faithfully served this country.

We’ve covered Ambassador Kenney in this blog for quite a bit. A trip down memory lane to bid farewell.

 

#

2 responses