Kristina Kvien

Kristina A. Kvien (born January 15, 1965) is an American diplomat who has served as the acting United States Ambassador to Ukraine since January 2020. She previously served as acting ambassador from May to June 2019. From June 2019 to January 2020, she served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of the United States in Ukraine.

Kristina Kvien
United States Ambassador to Ukraine
Acting
Assumed office
January 1, 2020
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byWilliam B. Taylor Jr. (acting)
In office
May 28, 2019 – June 18, 2019
Preceded byJoseph Pennington
(acting)
Succeeded byWilliam B. Taylor Jr. (acting)
Personal details
Born (1965-01-15) January 15, 1965
Orange County, California, U.S.
Alma materOccidental College (BA)
United States Army War College (MS)

Background

Kvien was born in Orange County, California, the daughter of John Kvien and Karen Lindquist.[1] 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.[2] 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.[3] Kvien has also served in Thailand as Acting Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of the United States, Bangkok.[4][5]

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.[6][7] At the Embassy of the United States, Kiev, Kvien assumed the post of chargée d'affaires from Joseph S. Pennington[8] on May 28, 2019.[7][9] Upon the appointment of former ambassador William B. Taylor Jr. as the new chargé d'affaires, Kvien relinquished that post on June 18, 2019.[10] She then served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Ukraine from June to January 2020.[11]

After the departure of Taylor in January 2020, Kvien again became acting ambassador.[11]

References
  1. State of California. California Birth Index, 1905-1995. Sacramento, CA, USA : State of California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics
  2. OXY: Occidental College Alumni News, "Oxy in the World Symposium" accessed Oct 22, 2019
  3. OXY: Occidental College Alumni News, "Oxy in the World Symposium" accessed Oct 22, 2019
  4. 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
  5. Grytsenko, Oksana (2019-05-31). "Kristina Kvien to temporarily head US Embassy in Ukraine". Kyiv Post. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  6. AWG Paris, "GREAT SUCCESS AT FAWCO REGIONAL/PARIS" accessed Oct 21, 2019
  7. "U.S. sends new envoy to Ukraine to replace Marie Yovanovitch". UNIAN. 2019-05-31. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  8. Tracy, Abigail (2019-05-08). "The Biden-Clinton-Ukraine Conspiracy Theory Claims Its First Victim". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  9. @USEmbassyKyiv (2019-06-28). "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. ow.ly/dYkO30oRnZA" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  10. Bonner, Brian (2019-06-18). "Ambassador William B. Taylor returns to Ukraine to lead US mission". Kyiv Post. Archived from the original on 2019-10-11. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  11. Frazin, Rachel (2020-01-02). "Bill Taylor formally leaves Ukraine ambassadorship". The Hill. Retrieved 2020-01-02.
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Joseph Pennington
Acting		 United States Ambassador to Ukraine
Acting
2019		 Succeeded by
William B. Taylor Jr.
Acting
Preceded by
William B. Taylor Jr.
Acting		 United States Ambassador to Ukraine
Acting
2020		 Incumbent
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