Michelle Kwan and Caroline Kennedy Nominated by Biden for Ambassadorships
GoLocalProv News Team
Michelle Kwan and Caroline Kennedy Nominated by Biden for Ambassadorships
The White House announced Wednesday that President Joe Biden is nominating former Rhode Islander Michelle Kwan to serve as the ambassador to Belize. Kwan was married to Clay Pell who ran for governor of Rhode Island in 2014. Kwan and Pell divorced in 2017.
And, Biden also nominated Caroline Kennedy — the daughter and only surviving child of President John F. Kennedy — to serve as the ambassador to Australia.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST
Biden announcement messages:
Michelle Kwan has had a distinguished career in public service, diplomacy, and sports. She is the most decorated figure skater in U.S. history, having won 43 championships, including five world championships, nine national titles, and two Olympic medals. She became the first Public Diplomacy Envoy in 2006 and for a decade, traveled extensively on behalf of the U.S. Department of State to engage youth around the world on social and educational issues. Kwan currently serves as the Treasurer and Board Member of Special Olympics International.
After she earned a B.A. from the University of Denver with a focus on international relations and a M.A. from Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, she became a Senior Advisor at the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. In addition, she served as an Advisor to the Office of Global Women’s Issues at the U.S. Department of State, where she assisted with the U.S.-China Women’s Leadership Exchange and Dialogue. She was also a member of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition and Council on Empowering Women and Girls Through Sports initiative at the U.S. Department of State.
Caroline Kennedy served as U.S. Ambassador to Japan from 2013-2017. She played a critical role in the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II culminating in the historic visits of President Obama to Hiroshima and Prime Minister Abe to Pearl Harbor. She advanced the realignment of U.S. Forces in Okinawa, promoted women’s empowerment in Japan, and increased student exchange between the U.S and Japan. In 2017, she founded the International Poetry Exchange Project to virtually connect students in Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and the Bronx through the power of the spoken word. In November 2021, she was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Rising Sun, the highest honor for which foreigners are eligible, for her efforts to strengthen the US-Japan alliance.
Prior to her time in Japan, Kennedy was at the forefront of education reform efforts in New York City, creating public private partnerships to promote arts education, school libraries, and performing arts spaces. She served as the CEO of the Office of Strategic Partnerships at the NYC Department of Education from 2002-2004, Vice Chair of the Fund for Public Schools from 2002-2010, and served on the Board of New Visions for Public Schools.
An attorney and author, Kennedy has published 11 New York Times best-selling books on law, civics, and poetry and serves as the Honorary President of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. She is a Director of the Carnegie Corporation and a member of the Board of Advisors of the International Rescue Committee.