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Perez

Carol

Ambassador Carol Z. Perez retired on December 31, 2022, as a career member of the Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor. She is the former Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Global Talent at the Department of State. Ambassador Perez was appointed by the President on January 30, 2019, and served in that position until June 1, 2022. In her capacity as Director General, she provided strategic leadership and guidance to the Secretary and Department leaders on talent management issues that affected a global workforce of over 78,000. Leading a team of 840 employees, she directed the Bureau of Global Talent Management’s mission, ensuring the Department recruited, developed, and empowered the world’s premier diplomatic team to advance U.S. foreign policy goals.

Ambassador Perez also served as Acting Under Secretary for Management from January 2021 through December 2021. In that role, she directed the operations of 14 bureaus and offices responsible for the people, resources, facilities, technology, security, and consular affairs of the department, including planning the day-to-day administration of the Department, and proposals for institutional reform and modernization. Prior to Ambassador Perez’s appointment as Director General in 2019, 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.

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.

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