Kelly Keiderling entered the U.S. Foreign Service in 1988. Her first assignments were in Lusaka, Zambia, where she worked as junior officer trainee and in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as Assistant Public Affairs Officer.

She was then assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, to work as Cultural Affairs Officer. After Russian language training, she served in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, as Public Affairs Officer and again as Public Affairs Officer in Gaborone, Botswana. Her first Washington assignment at the U.S. State Department was as Senior Panama Desk Officer in the Office of Central American Affairs. While in Washington, she also served as Acting Deputy Director of Central American Affairs for a year and as Public Diplomacy Desk Officer for the Caribbean for another year. She next worked in Havana, Cuba, as Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Interests Section. After a year of graduate studies at the National War College in Washington, DC, she was assigned to Chisinau, Moldova, as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy.

Most recently, she worked as Chief of Staff of the Iraq Office of the State Department for a year and spent another year as Strategic Language Issues Coordinator in the Human Resources Bureau. She has been assigned to Caracas, Venezuela, since July 2011 as deputy chief of mission, and is temporarily the Chargé d’Affaires.

Contact Information

United State Embassy
Calle F con Calle Suapure,
Urb. Colinas de Valle Arriba,
Caracas, Venezuela 1080

Phone: (0212) 975–6411

Website:  http://caracas.usembassy.gov/