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After a distinguished career in the U.S. Department of State, Kristie Kenney \u201977 is still finding ways to serve.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div> By Sara Ann Hutto ’17<\/b> Bangkok, Thailand. May 22, 2014. General Prayuth Chan-ocha of the newly formed Peace and Order Maintaining Command announces on television that the military has seized power from the caretaker government \u2014 a successful coup d\u2019\u00e9tat. Kristie Kenney, the U.S. ambassador to Thailand, watches from the embassy in Bangkok as the situation unravels. TAKING NO TIME to pull her team together, Kenney made her first priority very clear: \u201cThe first thing always \u2014 and all ambassadors are trained this way \u2014 the very first thought you have is for the safety and security of your staff, your facilities and American citizens in the country.\u201d \u201cThe very first thought you have is for the safety and security of your staff, your facilities and American citizens in the country.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div> AN UNEXPECTED OPPORTUNITY<\/b> GREAT EXPECTATIONS<\/b> \u201cI was fascinated by the world beyond our borders, and I thought I might help make the world a better place.”<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div> Before long, Kenney was snorkeling in the clear, blue waters of the Caribbean and dancing to reggae music, warming to the change in culture and geography. For her, this would be not only the first of many experiences abroad, but also the beginning of a prolific career. CONDUCTING DIPLOAMCY<\/b> \u201cThe biggest mistake leaders make is thinking, \u2018I need to know all the answers. I have to pretend I understand all this.\u2019 But there\u2019s absolutely no crime in saying, \u2018Who can tell me more about this issue?\u2019 Don\u2019t be afraid of that.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div> Smith first met Kenney when he was a desk officer in the State Department for Thailand. She had just been nominated for her last ambassadorship to the Southeast Asian country, and he helped her through the confirmation process. Following her to Thailand, he worked in Bangkok for three years under Kenney as a deputy officer in the political section and watched as she prevailed over demanding diplomatic and managerial scenarios. AN HONOR TO REPRESENT<\/b> \u201cIt is an honor to represent our nation. Always.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>
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\n<\/b>Photography by Craig Mahaffey ’98, Ashley Jones and Josh Wilson<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>
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\n\u201cThe coup happened, in this case in Thailand, at about 5:30 at night, which was 5:30 in the morning Washington time \u2014 they were just waking up,\u201d Kenney says. \u201cWe had to tell Washington what we were seeing and hearing because we knew they\u2019d want to respond immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>
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\nOnce it was determined the coup wasn\u2019t posing a direct security threat, questions followed: What is American business saying? Are our Peace Corps volunteers all right? What does this mean for policy?
\nKenney and her team watched Thailand fall under martial law, press restrictions and an imposed curfew in the months after the abrupt change in power. She remembers well the way U.S. relations with the new government became \u201ccomplicated, especially on the military side.\u201d Thailand is still living without democracy.
\nCrises like the coup in Thailand are part of the job description for ambassadors. For Kenney, a three-time U.S. ambassador \u2014 the first female U.S. ambassador to the Philippines and Thailand \u2014 and former counselor to the secretary of state, this was just one of many storms she weathered during her career in the foreign service.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>
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\nGROWING UP IN WASHINGTON, D.C., meant school field trips to the Smithsonian, family outings to famous monuments and galleries, and summer jobs interning for members of Congress. Until she got older, she wasn\u2019t aware how much the nation\u2019s capital had influenced her development.
\n\u201cThose summer jobs got me thinking,\u201d Kenney says. \u201cI think I always thought I would have a career in public service, just growing up [in Washington]. That was always in my mind.\u201d
\nAnother thing that was in her mind as a teenager was attending an ACC school for college, something that sprung from many weekends on the couch with her family watching the University of Maryland and the University of Virginia play football. When she took a tour of Clemson one spring break, she knew she\u2019d found her school.
\n\u201cI just fell in love with Clemson,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was beautiful and charming, and everybody was friendly. That settled it. That was easy.\u201d
\nFor Kenney, the move to South Carolina was a welcome change from Washington. Clemson was a place for her to spread her wings, and she took advantage of every opportunity by exploring her interests inside the classroom and out. For instance, she majored in political science, but classes in Spanish and international agriculture drew her attention. She also served on the student Supreme Court and as a referee for intramural sports.
\nHer varied interests continued after Clemson when she moved on to Tulane University to pursue a master\u2019s in Latin American Studies. But even in grad school, Kenney didn\u2019t have a clear plan for her career until an opportunity she wasn\u2019t expecting arose. As she was finishing up her degree, a group of grad school friends encouraged her to sign up with them for the foreign service officer test. So she did \u2014 and passed.
\n\u201cI didn\u2019t really know what it was or what I was going to do, so I said, \u2018Well, sure. What the heck?\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cAnd then I passed the test and the oral exam. And then I got offered a job.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>
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\n\u201cMY MOTHER’S GOING TO KILL ME.\u201d
\nThis was the first thought that ran through Kenney\u2019s head when she found out she had a job in the foreign service. Aside from worrying about breaking the news to her parents, she was excited. The job promised opportunities for her career as well as for travel, and as a young woman straight out of grad school, the whole world seemed to be waiting for her.
\n\u201cI was fascinated by the world beyond our borders, and I thought I might help make the world a better place,\u201d Kenney says. \u201cIt sounded like an amazing adventure.\u201d
\nHer first assignment: Jamaica. Without much experience living overseas, Kenney packed her bags and headed for the Caribbean island as a staff aide for the U.S. ambassador, along with a cadre of other junior officers on their first assignments.
\nInside the embassy, Kenney gained experience in foreign policy and procedure by watching and learning from senior officials and also helping U.S. citizens process visas. Outside the embassy, she was in for a bit of a culture shock: \u201cIt was a total difference, and it forced me, I think, to become a little more self-reliant. You know, you don\u2019t have the drugstore just down the street or the shopping mall a quick jaunt away, so you really had to learn how to live in a local community and enjoy that \u2014 which I did, but it took me a little longer to adjust than I think I expected.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>
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\nIt would be the beginning of a love story as well.
\nAfter Jamaica, Kenney returned to Washington as a junior staffer for Secretary of State George Shultz. Once again, she was surrounded by a group of fellow junior foreign service officers. Together, they were responsible for assembling all of the secretary\u2019s briefing papers and doing advance work for his travel abroad. With long hours in a fast-paced environment, teamwork among the juniors was crucial, and, naturally, they all became very close. Kenney\u2019s best friend in the group was William Brownfield. Two years later, they were married.
\n\u201cWhen Bill and I first got married, we said we\u2019d never take separate assignments where we\u2019d be in different places unless or until we were both offered ambassadorships,\u201d Kenney says. \u201cWe laughed at the time, since we were both quite junior, thinking we\u2019d never become ambassadors.
\nYears later, it happened \u2014 Bill became our ambassador to Chile, and I went to Ecuador.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>
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\nIN THE MIDST OF BEAUTIFUL JUNGLES and snow-capped volcanoes, Kenney\u2019s ambassadorship to Ecuador was a baptism by fire, literally. Along with a military coup and the kidnapping of an American citizen, Kenney had to deal with a surprise eruption of the stratovolcano known as Reventador.
\nAt the time, Kenney and her team had been more concerned about the Tungurahua volcano, which spewed fire regularly and they thought could erupt at any time. So when the Reventador eruption happened, everyone was caught off guard.
\n\u201cThe winds blew the ash cloud over Quito, and it looked like a light brown snowstorm,\u201d Kenney remembers. \u201cThe airport closed for about five days due to the ash, and schools were closed as well for safety inspections. \u2026 We had a lot of cleanup to do.\u201d
\nIn times of high stress during her ambassadorships, Kenney relied on her crisis management training and leadership skills. But she also depended on her team of experts.
\n\u201cThis is the reason you have talented staff,\u201d she explains. \u201cThe biggest mistake leaders make is thinking, \u2018I need to know all the answers. I have to pretend I understand all this.\u2019 But there\u2019s absolutely no crime in saying, \u2018Who can tell me more about this issue?\u2019 Don\u2019t be afraid of that.\u201d
\nWith this philosophy, Kenney managed embassy teams as she moved from Ecuador to the Philippines to Thailand. Demian Smith, a current political and economic counselor at the U.S. Embassy in New Zealand who worked under Kenney in Thailand, attests to her gift for leadership.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>
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\n\u201cFirst of all, she knows how to get the most out of a team, and that\u2019s not just individuals, but out of a whole complex organization,\u201d Smith says.
\nFor perspective, in most embassies the country team, which contains government representatives from branches such as the Department of Defense, the Transportation Security Administration, the Secret Service, and Health and Human Services, is usually around 10 or 15 people, Smith says. The country team in Bangkok was around 60. Undaunted by the large group, Kenney made sure meetings in the Bangkok embassy were no-nonsense.
\n\u201cThere have been senior distinguished ambassadors who have been put in charge of those big embassies like Bangkok and have struggled, so it\u2019s not a thing everyone does fine,\u201d Smith explains. \u201cAnd she was able to choreograph everybody. Those meetings would be 30 minutes of just what needed to be done, and no one ever left the meeting not knowing what their job was, who was going to do it and what it should look like.
\n\u201cIt was like watching an orchestra conductor.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>
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\nWHEN KENNEY RETURNED FROM THAILAND, she began the last phase of her diplomatic career as counselor to Secretary of State John Kerry, serving in the State Department\u2019s fifth-highest-ranking position. Aside from her chief duty of representing the State Department at White House policy meetings, Kenney made many trips abroad on Kerry\u2019s behalf, visiting places like Argentina and Myanmar to assess the status of the new governments there.
\nKerry also entrusted Kenney with organizing outreach programs focused on educating women and girls on the foreign service and how to get involved, and she often spoke about the State Department at schools and universities, both at home and abroad. After speaking with Kenney, it\u2019s obvious that encouraging others and developing their talents is something she holds close to her heart.
\n\u201cUnquestionably, the work I am proudest of and I hope will live on is my mentorship of others,\u201d Kenney says. \u201cI spent a lot of time and energy coaching and mentoring younger officers, and I\u2019m just so thrilled to watch some of the people I\u2019ve mentored living up to their own talents.\u201d
\nHer mentorship continues as an adjunct professor of leadership at Georgetown University. Now that she\u2019s organizing classes, talking with students and grading papers, she laughs about having a newfound respect for college professors: \u201cYou realize why they spend so many years learning to be such qualified professionals.\u201d
\nWhen she\u2019s not teaching, she\u2019s advising diplomacy groups, watching over her \u201ctotal diva kitty,\u201d Evita, planning overdue vacations and cheering on Washington sports teams with her husband. Her love of sports is well-known among her colleagues including Julie Chung, who also worked under Kenney in Thailand. Chung, now the State Department\u2019s deputy assistant secretary for Japan, says she relies on the lessons she learned in the Bangkok embassy as an economic counselor. One memory of Kenney stands out among many.
\n\u201cShe loves sports analogies,\u201d Chung laughs. \u201cBut I\u2019ll never forget the great quote she told us: \u2018You didn\u2019t come here to sit on the bench. You came to play! So if you have an idea to share, or you have a disagreement, raise it. Tell it.\u2019\u201d
\nThis motto and a few other trusted mantras were touchstones for Kenney throughout her journey in the foreign service. But one sentiment remains her guiding light:
\n\u201cIt is an honor to represent our nation. Always.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>
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