Laos
Chanthavisouk Chanthasane departed the post of second secretary on Aug. 29, 2012.
Nanthanakhone Keovongvichith assumed the position of third secretary on July 30, 2012. A graduate of Seoul National University in South Korea, Keovongvichith has worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Laos since 2005.
Viengkham Saenbouttalath departed the post of third secretary on Aug. 29, 2012.
Mai Sayavongs departed the post of minister counselor and deputy chief of mission on Sept. 3, 2012.
Singhanakhone Syhalath assumed the position of second secretary on Aug. 2, 2012. A graduate of Massey University in New Zealand, Syhalath previously has worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Laos since 1999, including as deputy director of the Protocol Division from 2008 to 2012.
Poland
Ryszard Schnepf was appointed ambassador of Poland to the United States on Sept. 22, 2012 having previously served as ambassador to Spain since 2008. Ambassador Schnepf was also undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2007-08); ambassador/minister of foreign affairs plenipotentiary for global threats (2006-07); secretary of state for foreign relations and security to the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland (2005-06), where he’d previously been deputy director and chief of protocol (1998-2000); and ambassador/minister of foreign affairs plenipotentiary for the Organization of 25th Anniversary of the Solidarity Trade Union (2005). In addition, he has served as Poland’s ambassador to Costa Rica, with accreditation to Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and El Salvador (2001-04), deputy head of mission at the Polish Embassy in Spain (2000-01), and ambassador to Uruguay and Paraguay (1991-96). From 1978 to 1991, Ambassador Schnepf was an assistant professor in the Iberian Studies Department of Warsaw University. He holds a master’s degree in history from Warsaw University and a doctorate from the Institute of History at the Polish Academy of Sciences. Ambassador is married with three children. He speaks English, Spanish, Russian and Italian.
Slovakia
Peter Kmec became ambassador of the Slovak Republic to the United States on Sept. 19, 2012 having previously served as ambassador to Sweden since 2007. He was posted to Washington, D.C., on a prior occasion, as deputy chief of mission and counselor from 2003 to 2005. Other postings include: chief (2005-07) and deputy chief (1999-2000) of the Minister’s Cabinet in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; deputy chief of mission and counselor at the Slovak Embassy in Israel (2000-02); political counselor to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to Georgia (1998-99); deputy director of the Department of Security Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1997-98); and second secretary to the Slovak Permanent Mission to the OSCE (1993-97). He also served in the Chamber of Nations of the Federal Assembly (Parliament) of the former Czechoslovakia in Prague (1992) and in the Department of International Economic Relations at the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of former Czechoslovakia (1990-91). Ambassador Kmec studied at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations from 1985 to 1990 and obtained his doctor of law degree from Comenius University in Bratislava in 1990.