Ms. Marie L. Yovanovitch of Connecticut, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Counselor, was nominated on June 3, 2005 to serve as the next Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Kyrgyz Republic, and confirmed by the Senate on June 30, 2005.

Prior to her appointment as U.S. Ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch was the Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from August 2004 to May 2005. From August 2001 to June 2004, she was the Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy Kiev, Ukraine. Prior to this assignment, from May 1998 to May 2000, she served as the Deputy Director of the Russian Desk. Her previous overseas assignments include Ottawa, Moscow, London, and Mogadishu. Ms. Yovanovitch joined the Foreign Service in 1986.

Ms. Yovanovitch is a graduate of Princeton University where she earned a BA in History and Russian Studies (1980). She has studied at the Pushkin Institute (1980) and received an MS from the National War College (2001).