Veeraya (Kate) Somvongsiri, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, assumed the role of Mission Director for USAID Pakistan in August 2023. Prior to this, she served as the Mission Director to Tanzania from 2021-23, Deputy Mission Director in Tanzania from 2019–21 and was Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for USAID’s Bureau of Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance from 2017–19. She has served as a Democracy, Rights and Governance Officer in Indonesia, Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Washington. Ms. Somvongsiri began her career with USAID in 2002 as a Presidential Management Fellow and joined the Foreign Service in 2006.
Prior to USAID, Ms. Somvongsiri served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nepal, volunteered with an NGO focused on Burmese migrant issues, and worked for the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. She holds a BA in Letters from the University of Oklahoma and an MA in international relations from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. She is also a 2017 Distinguished Graduate of the National War College with an MA in National Security Strategy. Her foreign languages include Thai, Spanish, Nepali, Bahasa Indonesian, Russian, and Kiswahili.