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Katherine (Kemy) Monahan recently arrived in Wellington to take up the position of Deputy Chief of Mission under Ambassador Tom Udall. She comes directly from the White House where she was Director for East Asia at the U.S. National Security Council. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, she has served thirteen tours on three continents over 28 years, in positions with the Department of State, Treasury, USAID, the World Bank and UNICEF.
She has extensive experience in the region, having served as Director for Japanese Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, as Deputy Financial Attaché at the U.S. embassy in Tokyo, studied law at Tokyo University, and worked as an Economic Analyst with the Yasuda Fire & Marine Research Institute in Tokyo. Her previous positions include Director for Economic & Development Affairs in State’s Bureau of International Organizations, Economic Counselor in embassy Mexico, Senior Development Counselor at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels, Deputy Executive Director of the Secretary’s Global Health Initiative, Economic Privatization Officer in embassy Warsaw, Advisor to the World Bank and Senior Advisor and Lead of the Washington, DC Office of UNICEF.
Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Ms. Monahan was an attorney. She is an honors graduate of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and the University of California, Hastings College of Law (JD) and speaks Spanish, Japanese and some Polish. Kemy and her husband Joe Turi have two adult sons.
To send an invitation to Kemy Monahan, please email: ProtocolWellington@state.gov.