Curriculum
Vitae
Current
Position: Writer/lecturer, with a monthly foreign policy column
in the Athens News (Greece).
Career:
Joined the Foreign Service of the U.S. Department of State in
April 1983. Resigned publicly in February 2003 to protest the
damage done to U.S. interests and alliances by Bush Administration foreign
policy, particularly the war with Iraq.
2003-2004 Visiting lecturer, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and
International Affairs and fellow in the Hellenic Studies Program,
Princeton University. Taught one course: "U.S.-EU
Relations and the Case of Greece, Turkey and Cyprus"
2000-2003 Political Counselor, U.S.
Embassy Athens, Greece. Managed
a Political Section of eight diplomats and local staff, reporting through
the Deputy Chief of Mission to the Ambassador.
Expertise: U.S.-Greek relations, Greek internal politics,
counterterrorism, conflict management (Greece-Turkey-Cyprus, Balkans),
human rights, and Greece's 2003 EU Presidency.
1999-2000 Deputy U.S. Special Negotiator
for Nagorno-Karabakh, (OSCE Minsk Group), working with Russian and French
counterparts in multilateral diplomacy involving Armenia, Azerbaijan, the
World Bank, EU, and others. Expertise:
post-conflict reconstruction, political economy of the South
Caucasus.
1997-1999 Political/Economic Counselor,
U.S. Embassy Yerevan, Armenia, supervising a staff of five.
Expertise: democratic
and free-market reforms, human rights, regional conflict resolution.
1994-1996 Senior India Desk Officer,
U.S. Department of State. Expertise:
nonproliferation, counterterrorism, Indo-Pakistan conflict resolution,
intelligence coordination.
1992-1994 Romania Desk Officer, U.S.
Department of State. Expertise:
democracy-building, regional integration, minority rights.
1988-1992 Political Officer, U.S.
Embassy Athens, Greece. Expertise:
Human rights, the Balkans, Greek internal politics,
counter-narcotics cooperation.
1985-1987 Economic Officer, U.S.
Consulate General Casablanca, Morocco.
Expertise: Fisheries,
phosphates, local economic development, youth issues.
1983-1985 Vice Consul and Ambassador’s
Staff Aide, U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv, Israel.
Education:
MA in Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology from U.C.
Berkeley in 1983. Participated
in U.C. Berkeley Nemea excavations (Greece)
in 1981, and New York University’s excavation in Aphrodisias (Turkey)
in 1982.
Studied classical archaeology at the American School
of Classical Studies in Athens, 1979-1980.
Graduated from Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania, in
1979 with a BA in Ancient Greek, with distinction, Phi Beta Kappa.
Graduated from Los Altos High School, California, in
1975, National Merit Scholar.
Working languages:
Greek, French, Armenian (Eastern); reading knowledge of
Ancient Greek, Latin, Spanish, Italian; some German, Turkish, Portuguese;
a few words of Romanian, Russian, Hebrew and Arabic.
Awards:
Doctor
of Laws, honoris causa, Grinnell College, Iowa, 2007
2006
George Kennan Peace Leadership Award from the Coalition for Peace Action,
in Princeton, NJ
1994 Rivkin Award (group award) given by the American Foreign
Service Association for constructive dissent.
Was member of a group of a dozen State Department officials that
pushed for international intervention in Bosnia.
Two State Department Sinclaire Awards for language learning (Greek,
Armenian).
Group Superior
Honor Award and miscellaneous Meritorious Honor and cash awards from the
State Department.
Personal:
Born in Houston, Texas in 1957, raised in Palo Alto and Los
Altos, California. Daughter Lydia Kiesling, a
2005 graduate of Hamilton College in
Clinton, New York, lives and works in San Francisco. Partner Regina Celia Tassitano is
a health professional in Athens, Greece.
Interests include archaeology, travel, bicycling,
hiking, and the evolution of human political behavior.
