Bitter, Rena

Rena Bitter is an American diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Laos from 2016–2020.

She grew up in Dallas, Texas. She received her B.S. degree from Northwestern University in 1986 as well as a J.D. from the Dedman School of Law at Southern Methodist University in 1991.

Bitter began her career in the U.S. Foreign Service in 1994. She served on the Department of State's Executive Secretariat Staff from 2000 to 2001, and served as a Special Assistant in the Office of the Secretary of State from 2001 to 2002. After that she served in London from 2002 to 2003 as a Transatlantic Diplomatic Fellow, and then as Chief of the Nonimmigrant Visa Unit in the Consular Section there. In her next assignment, Bitter was Consular Section Chief at the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan from 2006 to 2009. She then returned to domestic assignments at the Department of State’s Operations Center from 2009 to 2012.

From 2012 until she became Ambassador to Laos, Bitter served as Consul General at the U.S. Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. She presented her credentials on November 1, 2016. Her mission terminated on January 26, 2020.

Bitter speaks Spanish, Arabic and Vietnamese.