Elizabeth Rood

Elizabeth Rood is an American diplomat who serves as United States ambassador to Turkmenistan. She had served the ''chargé d'affaires'' of the U.S. mission to Russia from 2022 to 2023.

Early life and education

Rood obtained a Master of Arts from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Arts from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College.

Career

Rood joined the United States Foreign Service in 1993, after being a teacher in Frederick County, Maryland. Rood is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor. She currently serves as the deputy chief of mission at the United States Embassy in Moscow, Russia. As of September 4, 2022, Rood assumed duties as '' chargée d'affaires'' of the U.S. mission to Russia due to the retirement of Ambassador John Sullivan, until a permanent successor is appointed. Before this assignment, she was a faculty advisor at the U.S. Army War College. She served as deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia; Rood also served as ''chargée d'affaires'', ''ad interim'' there. Before this, she served as political counselor at the U.S. embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. Rood had also directed several bureaus in the State Department, including the Office of Export Control Cooperation in the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, the Office of Caucasus Affairs and Regional Conflicts in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, and the Foreign Service Institute’s Stability Operations Division. Rood had also served as Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Peshawar, Pakistan. Rood has other experiences in conflicts, including serving as the State Department’s representative on the U.S. Provincial Reconstruction Team in Paktika Province in Afghanistan, as well as deputy to the U.S. Special Negotiator for conflicts concerning Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Transnistria. Other assignments include the Nonproliferation Bureau within the United States Department of State; the U.S. Mission to the International Organizations in Vienna, Austria; and the U.S. Consulate General in Düsseldorf, Germany. She also held various roles in U.S. embassies in Vienna and Moscow.

U.S. ambassador to Turkmenistan

On August 3, 2022, President Joe Biden nominated Rood to be the next ambassador to Turkmenistan. Her nomination expired at the end of the year and was returned to Biden on January 3, 2023.

Rood was renominated the same day. Hearings on her nomination were held before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 15, 2023. The committee favorably reported her nomination on April 27, 2023. The Senate confirmed her nomination on May 2, 2024, by voice vote. She was sworn on July 15, 2024 and presented her credentials to President Serdar Berdimuhamedow on July 31, 2024.

Awards and recognition

Rood is the recipient of numerous State Department performance awards, including three Senior Foreign Service Performance Awards.

Personal life

A native of North Carolina, Rood speaks French, Russian, German, Pashto, Dari, and Georgian.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rood, Elizabeth
Living people
Randolph College alumni
United States Department of State officials
United States Foreign Service personnel
University System of Maryland alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)
American women diplomats
Ambassadors of the United States to Turkmenistan
21st-century American diplomats
American women ambassadors