THE United States’ Embassy recently announced that Heather Variava will be its new chargé d’affaires, ad interim (CDA a.i.), as she succeeds former Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) John Law.
“It is a privilege and an honor to assume charge of our large and busy mission in the Philippines,” said Variava, who will be serving in Manila for the next three years. “I look forward to strengthening the broad and deep relationships we have here. While we are not yet free of the pandemic, I am committed to partnering with the government and people of the Philippines to face challenges together.”
Variava, who has been a member of the US Foreign Service since 1996, steered her country’s embassy in Indonesia and its consulates through the first year of the pandemic, and supported the US strategic partnership in Indonesia as CDA and DCM. Before her posting at the US Embassy in Jakarta, she was the US consul general in Surabaya from 2015 to 2018.
The CDA a.i. also served as the US Department of State’s director of the Office of Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives and Bhutan in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs. She has worked in Mumbai, India; Port Louis, Mauritius; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; and Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Variava completed a fellowship in executive leadership with the International Women’s Forum in 2014, and earned a Master’s degree in national security strategy from the National War College in Washington, D.C. in 2012. She also has degrees in journalism from the University of Missouri, and in international relations from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. She and her husband have two sons. Her full bio is at: https://ph.usembassy.gov/our-relationship/our-ambassador/.