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: Independent State of Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and the Republic of Vanuatu
CANDIDATE: Erin Elizabeth McKee
Erin Elizabeth McKee, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister Counselor, has been Director of the USAID Mission in Indonesia since 2016, and was Acting Deputy Chief of Mission at Embassy Jakarta in 2017-2018. During her career of economic development work in Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, she has effectively promoted U.S. economic priorities and global interests. With her extensive management and leadership expertise, and experience nurturing entrepreneurship and natural resource management in a broad range of economies, Ms. McKee is well prepared to be U.S. Ambassador to Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and the Republic of Vanuatu.
Ms. McKee was Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator and Chief Human Capital Officer (2014-2016) in USAID’s Office of Human Capital and Talent Management, and Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Bureau of Policy, Planning and Learning (2012-2013) at USAID headquarters in Washington, D.C. She was Deputy Director and then Regional Mission Director for Central Asian Republics at the Embassy in Astana, Kazakhstan (2009-2012). She also served at USAID missions at Embassy Baghdad, Iraq (2008-2009), Embassy Lima, Peru (2006-2008), Embassy La Paz, Bolivia (2004-2006), Embassy Tel Aviv, Israel and Consulate General, Jerusalem (2001-2004), and Embassy Moscow, Russia (1995-1999).
Ms. McKee earned a B.A. at the University of California at Davis, and an M.A. at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. She speaks Russian, Spanish and Bahasa Indonesian.