Kristina Kvien
United States Ambassador to Armenia
Assumed office
February 21, 2023
PresidentJoe Biden
Preceded byLynne M. Tracy
United States Chargé d’Affaires to Ukraine
In office
January 1, 2020 – May 29, 2022
PresidentDonald Trump
Joe Biden
Preceded byWilliam B. Taylor Jr. (acting)
Succeeded byBridget A. Brink
In office
May 28, 2019 – June 18, 2019
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byJoseph Pennington (acting)
Succeeded byWilliam B. Taylor Jr. (acting)
Personal details
EducationOccidental College (BA)
United States Army War College (MS)

Kristina A. Kvien is an American diplomat who has served as United States ambassador to Armenia since February 2023. She previously served as United States chargé d’affaires to Ukraine from May to June 2019 and from January 2020 to May 2022. From June 2019 to January 2020, she was deputy chief of mission at the Embassy of the United States in Kyiv.

Early life and education

Originally from Orange County, California She earned a bachelor's degree from Occidental College. After graduating from college, she worked as a market researcher for the Los Angeles Times and then pursued graduate studies at Stockholm University in Sweden. She later earned a master's degree in strategic studies from the United States Army War College.

Foreign Service career

Kvien joined the Foreign Service in 1992, and her first assignment was as a consular officer in Paris.[1] She later served as an Economics Officer at the Embassy of the United States, Manila. Subsequently, she served at the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs in Washington, D.C., focusing on European Union and OECD issues. She was then assigned as a desk officer for Slovenia.

From 2001 to 2005, she served at the United States Mission to the European Union in Brussels as an Economics Officer, and then was transferred to the Embassy of the United States, Moscow, working on environment and energy issues. Kvien then became Director for EU Affairs, EU Economies and Caspian Energy for Ukraine and Belarus at the United States National Security Council.

Kvien then accepted a post in London overseeing US-UK economic relations, covering finance and banking issues, civil aviation, terrorist financing, labor, and energy policy.[1] Kvien has also served in Thailand as Acting Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of the United States, Bangkok.[2][3]

Before being posted to Ukraine, Kvien served at the Embassy of the United States, Paris from 2016 to April 2019 as Acting Deputy Chief of Mission and Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs.[4][5]

Kvien with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Rzeszow, Poland, on March 5, 2022

At the Embassy of the United States, Kyiv, Kvien assumed the post of chargée d'affaires from Joseph S. Pennington[6] on May 28, 2019.[5][7] Upon the appointment of former ambassador William B. Taylor Jr. as the new chargé d'affaires, Kvien relinquished that post on June 18, 2019.[8] She then served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Ukraine from June to January 2020.[9]

After the departure of Taylor in January 2020, Kvien again became acting ambassador.[9]

United States ambassador to Armenia

On June 22, 2022, President Joe Biden nominated Kvien to serve as the United States ambassador to Armenia.[10][11] On November 30, 2022, hearings on her nomination were held before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. On December 7, 2022, her nomination was favorably reported out of committee. On December 13, 2022, her nomination was confirmed by the Senate by voice vote.[12] She was sworn in by Under Secretary Uzra Zeya on January 26, 2023,[13] and presented her credentials to President Vahagn Khachaturyan on February 21, 2023.[14]

Awards and recognitions

Kvien is a recipient of multiple State Department performance awards.[10]

Personal life

Kvien speaks Russian and French.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 OXY: Occidental College Alumni News, "Oxy in the World Symposium" accessed Oct 22, 2019
  2. ↑ Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand, "In Focus : 7th Meeting of the Thai-U.S. Creative Partnership Joint Steering Committee" Feb 2015
  3. ↑ Grytsenko, Oksana (May 31, 2019). "Kristina Kvien to temporarily head US Embassy in Ukraine". Kyiv Post. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  4. ↑ AWG Paris, "GREAT SUCCESS AT FAWCO REGIONAL/PARIS" accessed Oct 21, 2019
  5. 1 2 "U.S. sends new envoy to Ukraine to replace Marie Yovanovitch". UNIAN. May 31, 2019. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  6. ↑ Tracy, Abigail (May 8, 2019). "The Biden-Clinton-Ukraine Conspiracy Theory Claims Its First Victim". Vanity Fair. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  7. ↑ @USEmbassyKyiv (May 31, 2019). "Today, U.S. Embassy Kyiv staff welcomed Chargé d'Affaires a.i. Kristina Kvien at a Town Hall meeting. She arrived on May 28, 2019. http://ow.ly/dYkO30oRnZA" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  8. ↑ Bonner, Brian (June 18, 2019). "Ambassador William B. Taylor returns to Ukraine to lead US mission". Kyiv Post. Archived from the original on October 11, 2019. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  9. 1 2 Frazin, Rachel (January 2, 2020). "Bill Taylor formally leaves Ukraine ambassadorship". The Hill. Retrieved January 2, 2020.
  10. 1 2 3 "President Biden Announces Key Nominees" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: The White House. June 22, 2022.
  11. ↑ "Nominations Sent to the Senate" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: The White House. June 22, 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  12. ↑ "PN2310 - Nomination of Kristina A. Kvien for Department of State, 117th Congress (2021-2022)". www.congress.gov. July 11, 2022. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
  13. ↑ Zeya, Uzra [@UnderSecStateJ] (January 26, 2023). "Thrilled to swear in my friend & colleague Kristina Kvien as U.S. Amb. @USEmbArmenia" (Tweet). Retrieved February 8, 2023 – via Twitter.
  14. ↑ "Ambassador Kvien presents her credentials". United States Department of State. February 21, 2023. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
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