Kelly Keiderling serves as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). The bureau advances U.S. foreign policy objectives through educational, professional, and cultural programs that enhance mutual understanding between the people of the United States and people of other nations.

Ms. Keiderling is a career diplomat who entered the U.S. Foreign Service in 1988. Most recently, she was Deputy Chief of Mission and intermittently Charge d’Affaires in Caracas, Venezuela, until expelled by the Venezuelan president. She previously served overseas as Deputy Chief of Mission in Chisinau, Moldova, Public Affairs Officer in Cuba, Botswana and Kyrgyzstan, and in other public diplomacy roles in the Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, and Zambia. Her assignments in Washington include Senior Panama Desk officer, Public Diplomacy Desk Officer for the Caribbean, acting deputy director for Central American Affairs, Strategic Language Issues Coordinator in the Bureau of Human Resources, and Chief of Staff in the Iraq Office.

Ms. Keiderling received a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and a master’s degree from the National War College in Washington, D.C. She speaks Spanish, Portuguese, French, Russian, and some Italian and Romanian. She was raised in Latin America and Portugal in a Foreign Service family.