Korhonen is the third person of Indian descent to be named to a top diplomatic post in just over a month
President Biden Joe Biden intends to nominate Indian American Rachna Sachdeva Korhonen, a career member of the US Senior Foreign Service, as the US Ambassador to the Republic of Mali.
Korhonen, who speaks Hindi, French, Finnish, and Arabic and had an assignment at the US Consulate General in Mumbai, India, is the third person of Indian descent to be named to a top diplomatic post in just over a month.
Read: Biden names Indian American Puneet Talwar envoy to Morocco (March 20, 2022)
She currently serves as a Deputy Assistant Secretary and the Executive Director of the combined Executive Offices of the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, according to the White House announcement on April 15.
Previously, Korhonen was the Consul General and Principal Officer of the US Consulate in Dharan, Saudi Arabia. She also led the Management Section of the US Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka and, in Washington, served as a Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for Management.
Among her other assignments, Korhonen was the Supervisory General Services Officer and Senior Human Resources Officer at the US Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the Political Chief of the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Kirkuk, Iraq.
Read: Biden names Shefali Razdan Duggal as envoy to Netherlands (March 14, 2022)
She also had assignments at the US Embassy in Kuwait. Korhonen earned her BS from Empire State College.
Last month Biden named a senior Indian American official, Puneet Talwar, his long time aide on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as the US ambassador to the Kingdom of Morocco.
Talwar who has held senior national security and foreign policy positions in the State Department, White House, and United States Senate, currently serves as a Senior Advisor at the State Department.
Before that Biden had nominated Shefali Razdan Duggal, an Indian American political activist, and Democratic party fundraiser from California, as the US ambassador to the Netherlands.
Read: Joe Biden Nominates Indian-American Diplomat Rachna Sachdeva As His Envoy For Mali (April 18, 2022)
A Kashmiri born in Haridwar, UP, India, Razdan Duggal, 50, moved to the US at a very young age and grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio.
A mother of two, she served as National Co-Chair of Women for Biden, and as a Deputy National Finance Chair at the Democratic National Committee.
A women’s rights advocate, and human rights campaigner, Razdan Duggal is a San Francisco Committee member of Human Rights Watch.