A former U.S. State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, Ambassador Kathleen Kavalec is appointed as the new Head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina on 24 September 2019.
A career U.S. diplomat, Ambassador Kavalec has held a variety of diplomatic assignments, including Director for Russian Affairs in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, and Deputy Permanent Delegate and Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Mission to the UNESCO in Paris. She was also the Deputy Co-ordinator for U.S. Assistance to Europe, Eurasia and Central Asia and served as the Director of Conflict Prevention in the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization. Her overseas assignments have included services in various locations, including Russia, Ukraine, Romania and Brazil. She is the recipient of a number of State Department awards, as well as a Presidential Rank Award.
Ambassador Kavalec holds an A.B. in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley and an M.S.F.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. Her foreign languages include the languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian. She is married and has three children.
