Cynthia Kierscht is an official at the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...

who has served as the

United States Ambassador to Mauritania The United States embassy in Mauritania is located in Nouakchott. Mauritania – United States relations have been developing since 1960. The incumbent ambassador is Cynthia Kierscht. Ambassadors * Henry S. Villard – Career FSO **Title: En ...

since June 22, 2021. President Biden on January 23, 2023, announced his intent to nominate Kierscht as the next US Ambassador to Djibouti.

Education

Kierscht is a 1983 graduate of Fargo North High School. She earned her

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from

Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1866, it had 2,105 undergraduate students and 269 faculty members in fall 2016. The 200-acre main campus is between Northfield and the 800-acre Cowling ...

and her Master of Public Policy from the

John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

."President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Individuals to Key Administration Posts" White House, June 15, 2020

Career

Kierscht is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Counselor. She served as the Director and Deputy Director of the Office of Canadian Affairs for the State Department. She currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Canada, Haiti and the Caribbean in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. She has served in different capacities at United States Embassies; From 2013 to 2016, while in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

she served as the Cultural Affairs Officer and as the Deputy Management Counselor from 2011 to 2013. Other assignments include

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ar, الرِّبَاط, er-Ribât; ber, ⵕⵕⴱⴰⵟ, ṛṛbaṭ) is the capital city of Morocco and the country's seventh largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan populati ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

, and

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, as well as serving in the United States Consulate in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, and at the United States Interests Section in

Tripoli, Libya Tripoli (; ar, طرابلس الغرب, translit= Ṭarābulus al-Gharb , translation=Western Tripoli) is the capital and largest city of Libya, with a population of about 1.1 million people in 2019. It is located in the northwest of Libya o ...

. Among her other assignments at the State Department, Kierscht worked in the

Executive Secretariat The United States Department of State Executive Secretariat (S/ES) is composed of the Executive Secretary of the State Department and five deputy executive secretaries. It is responsible for coordination of the work of the Department of State int ...

and the Operations Center, in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, and in the Bureau of Counterterrorism and Countering Violent Extremism.

Ambassador to Mauritania

On June 15, 2020, President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

nominated Kierscht to be the next United States Ambassador to Mauritania. On June 18, 2020, her nomination was sent to the Senate. Hearings on her nomination were held before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on December 2, 2020. She was discharged from the committee on December 22, 2022, and was confirmed via

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding vo ...

by the entire Senate that same day. She was sworn in on January 27, 2021. She presented her credentials to President

Mohamed Ould Ghazouani Mohamed Ould Cheikh Mohamed Ahmed Ould Ghazouani ( ar, محمد ولد الشيخ محمد أحمد ولد الغزواني; born 4 December 1956), also known as Ghazouani and Ould Ghazouani, is a Mauritanian politician and retired Mauritanian A ...

on June 22, 2021.

Ambassador to Djibouti

On January 23, 2023, President Joe Biden nominated Kierscht to be the next ambassador to

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

. Hearings on her nomination were held before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on June 13, 2023. Her nomination was favorably reported by the committee on July 13, 2023. Her nomination is pending before the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

Personal life

Kierscht speaks

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

, and Spanish.

References