United States Ambassador Elizabeth Rood arrived in Turkmenistan on July 24 and has begun work at the U.S. Embassy in Ashgabat. Ambassador Rood was sworn in as the United States Ambassador to Turkmenistan on July 15, 2024 and presented her credentials to His Excellency President Serdar Berdimuhamedov on July 31, 2024. She looks forward to strengthening the partnership, rooted in government and people-to-people ties, between the United States and Turkmenistan during her tenure.
Ambassador Rood is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor. Her previous assignments include Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Russia; Faculty Advisor at the U.S. Army War College; Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia; and Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. Earlier, Ambassador Rood directed the State Department’s 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. Other previous assignments include service in Austria, Germany, and Pakistan, as well as Washington.
Ambassador Rood is the recipient of numerous State Department performance awards, including three Senior Foreign Service Performance Awards. A native of North Carolina, she holds an MA from the University of Maryland and an AB from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College. Her languages include Russian, French, German, Pashto, Dari, Georgian, and Turkmen.