Perez, Carol Zelis

<p>Carol Z. Perez, a career member of the Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, was appointed by the President to be Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Global Talent at the Department of State on January 30, 2019. In this capacity, she provides strategic leadership and guidance to the Secretary and Department leaders on talent management issues that affect a global workforce of over 76,000. Leading a team of 800 employees, she directs the Bureau of Global Talent Management’s mission, ensuring the Department recruits, develops, and empowers the world’s premier diplomatic team to advance U.S. foreign policy goals.</p>

<p>Prior to this assignment, she was the U.S. Ambassador to Chile, a position she held from September 2016 to January 2019. She previously served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Human Resources at the Department of State from 2015 to 2016, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary from 2013 to 2015 and as Deputy Assistant Secretary from 2011 to 2013. Prior assignments include U.S. Consul General in Milan, Italy, from 2009 to 2011, and in Barcelona, Spain, from 2001 to 2003. Since joining the Foreign Service in 1987, Ambassador Perez has also held positions in the Office of the Under Secretary for Management, the Executive Secretariat, and the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. She speaks Spanish and Italian.</p>

<p>A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Ambassador Perez received a B.A. from Hiram College in political science and an M.A. in health care administration from The George Washington University.</p>

<p>Carol Zelis Perez is a career Foreign Service Officer, currently serving as the Director General of the Foreign Service. Previously, Perez served as the U.S. Ambassador to Chile from October 2016 to January 2019.</p>

<p>Perez was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and graduated from Marymount High School in nearby Garfield Heights in 1971. She earned a bachelor of arts in political science at Hiram College in 1975 and subsequently a master's degree in health care administration at George Washington University.</p>

<p>Perez joined the U.S. State Department in 1987. Most of her assignments have been administrative or consular in nature, with early postings as a special assistant in the office of the Under Secretary of State for Management, as operations officer in the State Department Operations Center, and as a consular officer in Madrid.</p>

<p>In 1994, Perez was made administrative and human relations officer at the U.S. Embassy in Rome. She returned to Washington in 1997 for a series of assignments, first as a supervisory general services officer, deputy executive director in the Executive Secretariat; then the following year as office director in the Secretariat staff office; and beginning in 1999 as deputy executive secretary. She was assigned overseas in 2001 as the Consul General in Barcelona.</p>

<p>Two years later, she was reassigned to Washington as Deputy Executive Secretary of the department. Part of her duties were organizing and staffing trips made by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. In 2009, Perez was named Consul General in Milan.</p>

<p>Perez returned to Washington in 2011 as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. The following year, she vouched for the department after auditors found the United States spent $200 million on a training program for Iraqi police. She was named Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the bureau in 2013 and helped coordinate anti-drug-trafficking efforts in Haiti, Ukraine and the South China Sea. In January 2015, Perez became Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Human Resources.</p>

<p>In May 10, 2016, Perez was nominated by President Barack Obama to be U.S. Ambassador to Chile. Perez testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on June 21, 2016, and was confirmed on July 14, 2016. Perez is the first ever woman ambassador accredited to Chile.</p>

<p>On July 31, 2018 President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Perez as the Director General of the Foreign Service. On August 1, 2018 her nomination was sent to the United States Senate. She was confirmed by the Senate on a voice vote on January 2, 2019, and sworn in on February 1, 2019.</p>

<p>Perez and her husband, Al, have three children, Michael, Caroline and Marisa. In addition to English, Perez speaks Spanish and Italian.</p>