UNITED STATES SENATE
SUBJECT: Ambassadorial Nomination: Certificate of
Demonstrated Competence — Foreign Service
Act, Section 304(a)(4)
POST: Republic of Rwanda
CANDIDATE: Eric W. Kneedler
Eric Kneedler is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor. He currently serves as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya and was Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. from 2021-2022. Earlier, Mr. Kneedler was the Counselor for Political Affairs at the Embassy in Nairobi and before that he served in the same role at the U.S. Embassy in Manila, Philippines. Previously, he served as the Deputy Political Counselor at the U.S Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand and as a Political Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia. His demonstrated leadership ability as Deputy and Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. in Nairobi, coupled with his over two decades of service as a career diplomat, make Mr. Kneedler a well-qualified candidate for Ambassador to the Republic of Rwanda.
Among his other assignments, Mr. Kneedler was a Staff Assistant in the Bureau of European Affairs, a Senior Watch Officer in the State Department’s Operations Center, and he also held positions at the U.S. Embassy in Port Louis, Mauritius and the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong.
Mr. Kneedler earned his Bachelor’s degree from Pomona College, and his Master’s degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He is the recipient of numerous State Department performance awards. His foreign languages include Thai, Indonesian, French, Cantonese and Italian.