Kathleen Stephens

Kathleen Stephens was the United States ambassador to South Korea from 2008 to 2011. She also served as the United States' chargé d'affaires to India from March to December 2014. She currently leads the Korea Economic Institute of America as president and CEO. Early life Stephens was born in west Texas and grew up in New Mexico and Arizona. She holds a B.A. in East Asian studies from Prescott College and a master's degree from Harvard University, and also studied at the University of Hong Kong and Oxford University. After college, she was a Peace Corps volunteer in South Korea's Yesan, South Chungcheong from 1975 to 1977; it was then that she was given her Korean name Shim Eungyeong (심은경). Career Stephens joined the United States Foreign Service in 1978. Early in her career, Stephens served at U.S. missions in Trinidad and Tobago (1978–1980) and in the People's Republic of China (1980–1982). Her tour of duty in South Korea included roles as internal political unit chief at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul (1984–1987) and Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate in Busan (1987–1989). Afterwards, she worked as a political officer at the U.S. missions in Belgrade and Zagreb (1991–1992), senior desk officer for the United Kingdom in the Bureau of European Affairs (1992–1994), Director for European Affairs at the United States National Security Council, 1994–1995, Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1995–1998, Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal, 1998–2001, and Director of the Office of Ecology and Terrestrial Conservation at the United States Department of State, 2001–2003. Stephens assumed her duties as Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs on December 5, 2003, during which her primary responsibility was policy oversight and management of relations with the countries of South-Central Europe. Following that, she assumed her duties as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs in June 2005. In that capacity she was responsible for a variety of Bureau-wide issues, including post management. She had particular responsibility for the management of U.S. relations with Japan and Korea.