Karen Enstrom

Karen Enstrom served as the Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs during the transition to the bureau’s new Assistant Secretary and as Director of the bureau’s Office of Development Finance.  Other recent assignments include service as a Deputy Executive Secretary in the office of the Secretary of State, Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Russia, and Director of the Global Entrepreneurship Program in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs.  With over 25 years of government service, Karen’s overseas tours have included Russia (where she served twice), Cyprus, the Netherlands, Bahrain, and Mongolia, in addition to other assignments in Washington, D.C.

Karen has a Master of Arts degree in International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a Master of Science degree in National Resource Strategy from the National Defense University.  She also studied at the Institute of Russian and East European Studies at Uppsala University in Sweden.  Her foreign languages include Swedish, Russian, and Dutch.  She is married to fellow foreign service officer Andrew Schofer, and they have two adult sons.