Biography of Kathleen Stephens

Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs

Kathleen Stephens is a career Foreign Service officer with the rank of Minister Counselor. She assumed her duties as Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs on December 5, 2003. Her primary responsibility is policy oversight and management of relations with the countries of South-Central Europe.

Recent previous assignments include Director of the Office of Ecology and Terrestrial Conservation at the Department of State, 2001-2003, Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal, 1998-2001, and Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1995-1998.

Ms. Stephens was Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council, 1994-1995. Earlier assignments included senior desk officer for the United Kingdom in the Bureau of European Affairs (1992-1994), and political officer at the U.S. missions in Belgrade and Zagreb (1991-1992). Ms. Stephens has had two diplomatic postings in Korea, as Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate in Pusan, Korea (1987-1989), and as internal political unit chief at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, Korea (1984-1987). Earlier in her career, Ms. Stephens served at U.S. missions in China (1980-1982) and in Trinidad and Tobago (1978-1980).

Ms. Stephens’ foreign languages are Korean, Serbo-Croatian, and Chinese. She was born in west Texas and grew up in New Mexico and Arizona. She holds a B.A. from Prescott College and a Master’s degree from Harvard University. Prior to joining the Foreign Service in 1978, Ms. Stephens was a Peace Corps volunteer in Korea and an exchange student and Outward Bound instructor in Hong Kong.

Released by the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, January 2004.