H.E. Michael D. Kirby

H.E. Michael D. Kirby assumed the position of U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Serbia on September 19, 2012, after serving as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs in Washington, D.C. Prior to holding this position in Washington, he served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Moldova. He is a career Foreign Service Consular Officer with nearly 32 years of service in the State Department. Immediately prior to being named Ambassador to Moldova, he was the Consul General in the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, which was then the State Department’s largest nonimmigrant visa post. From 2001 to 2004, Ambassador Kirby served as Consul General in the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, Poland. He had served earlier in Poland as Chief of the Consular Section in Consulate General Krakow, from 1988 to 1991. In addition to serving in Poland and Korea, Ambassador Kirby served as Regional Consular Officer in Consulate General Frankfurt, Germany, from 1996 to 1998, assisting Consular operations in countries throughout the former Soviet Union. Ambassador Kirby also ran the consular sections in Denmark and Tanzania. His first tour was in Georgetown, Guyana. In addition to his overseas postings, Ambassador Kirby has served twice in Washington, D.C., first as a Desk Officer in the Office of Caribbean Affairs and later as Director of the Office of Intelligence Coordination in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. The son of a diplomat, Ambassador Kirby was raised around the world, including Hong Kong; Benghazi, Libya; and the United States. He earned a B.A. with Honors in History from the University of Pennsylvania where he studied both History and Biology.  He did graduate work in History at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He met his wife, Sara Powelson Kirby, in Paris; they have two adult daughters.