REPORT FOR THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
SUBJECT: Ambassadorial Nomination: Certificate of Demonstrated Competence — Foreign Service Act, Section 304(a)(4)
POST: Romania
CANDIDATE: Kathleen Ann Kavalec
Kathleen Ann Kavalec, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor, currently serves as OSCE Head of Mission in 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. Prior to 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. As Deputy Coordinator for Assistance in the European Bureau, and as Director for Conflict Prevention in the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization, she oversaw major U.S. foreign assistance programs. Kavalec’s other overseas assignments include service at U.S. Embassies in Bucharest, Romania; Kyiv, Ukraine; and 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. Kavalec has devoted most of her 36-year career to the European region. This substantive regional experience, coupled with her language skills, extensive management experience and demonstrated ability to lead large interagency teams as well as policy-oriented offices, make her a well-qualified candidate to be the U.S. Ambassador to Romania.
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. Kavalec is the recipient of numerous State Department performance awards, as well as the Presidential Rank Award. She speaks Romanian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Russian.