Ambassador Rebecca E. Gonzales

Ambassador Rebecca E. Gonzales is the Director of the Department of State’s Office of Foreign Missions (OFM), a position which holds the rank of Ambassador and is the equivalent of an Assistant Secretary of State.  Ambassador Gonzales is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor. Ambassador Gonzales was sworn in as OFM’s Director in May 2022.  From 2018 to 2022 she served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Lesotho.  During this period, the United States and the Kingdom of Lesotho achieved significant gains in the areas of health and HIV/AIDS control/prevention, human rights, and combatting human trafficking. Prior to assuming her current role, Ambassador Gonzales enjoyed a wide-ranging career with the Department of State.  Previously, she served as the Chief of Staff in the Bureau of Administration at the Department of State.  She also served as the Deputy Executive Director of the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs; Deputy Management Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa; Management Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Gaborone, Botswana; and Special Assistant in the Office of the Under Secretary for Management.  Her overseas assignments include service at U.S. embassies in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; New Delhi, India; Bogota, Colombia; Athens, Greece; and Panama City, Panama. Ambassador Gonzales earned a B.A. in International Affairs and an M.B.A. from the George Washington University.  She received an M.A. in National Resource Strategy from the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy at Fort McNair, Washington, DC.  A native of Texas, she speaks fluent Spanish and professional-level Greek.