Blackstone, C. Kevin -Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste – June 2020

REPORT FOR THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

UNITED STATES SENATE

SUBJECT:            Ambassadorial Nomination:  Certificate of Demonstrated Competence — Foreign Service Act, Section 304(a)(4)

POST:                  Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste

CANDIDATE:     C. Kevin Blackstone

Kevin Blackstone, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, currently serves as the Executive Director of the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs of the Department of State.  Prior to that, Mr. Blackstone was the Minister-Counselor for Management at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt and the Management Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand and at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India.  He also was the Team Leader of the U.S. Provincial Reconstruction Team in Wasit, Iraq.  In directing the management teams of three of our largest Embassies, all with significant interagency elements and in three different geographic bureaus, Mr. Blackstone has embodied the leadership skills, operational savvy, and adaptability required of our senior leaders.  This, when coupled with his extensive background in the East Asia and Pacific Region and his demonstrated effectiveness in working in often complex policy and security environments, makes him an excellent candidate to be the U.S. Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Blackstone served as a Refugee Admissions Program Officer in the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration and was acting director of the State Department’s domestic refugee processing center for a year.  Mr. Blackstone also served as Supervisory General Services Officer at U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Management Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Toronto, Canada, and  Regional Human Resources Officer in Canberra, Australia, in addition to service at Embassies in Libreville, Gabon; Kampala, Uganda; Rome, Italy; and Lagos, Nigeria.

Mr. Blackstone earned his B.A. from the University of Virginia and his M.P.A. from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University.  He is the recipient of numerous State Department awards, including the Expeditionary Service Award.  His foreign languages are French and Italian.