Ms. Cefkin is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, rank of Minister -Counselor.  On November 19, 2014 the U.S. Senate confirmed her nomination to serve as the next U.S. Ambassador to Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga, and Tuvalu.  Prior to this Ms. Cefkin served as the State Department’s Senior Advisor for Burma.  Other recent assignments included Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand (2010-2013), and DCM at the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2006-2009).

Ms. Cefkin entered the Foreign Service in 1983.  Her other overseas postings have included the Philippines, France, Mexico, and an earlier tour in Thailand.  In Washington, Ms. Cefkin has served in the Office of Central African Affairs, the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, and the Office of European Union and Regional Affairs.  She also served as Deputy Director of the Office of Western European Affairs and as Director of the Office of Nordic and Baltic Affairs.  In 2009, Ms. Cefkin did a brief stint on the Foreign Service Board of Examiners.

Prior to entering the Foreign Service, Ms. Cefkin worked as a television news producer at network news affiliates in Denver and Houston.  She also worked in Congress's Office of Technology Assessment and as a legislative intern in the U.S. Senate.  She received a B.A. in Government from Smith College (1975), followed by a Masters in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science (1977).