Lisa Kenna

Ms. Kenna, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Counselor, is the Executive Secretary of the Department of State and a Senior Advisor. She previously served as a Political Advisor in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and before that she was chief of the political section of the United States Embassy in Amman, Jordan. Ms. Kenna was previously Director of the Iraq office in the National Security Council at the White House following a tour as Deputy Director of the Iraq Political Office in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the State Department. She served as a political/military officer at the United States Embassy in Cairo, Egypt. Other assignments overseas included the United States Embassy in Mbabane, Swaziland, and the United StatesConsulate General in Peshawar, Pakistan. Before joining the State Department, Ms. Kenna was an attorney in private practice. A graduate of Middlebury College and the University of Connecticut School of Law, she speaks Arabic, Persian and Urdu.