Press Release - President Biden Announces Key Nominees

WASHINGTON – Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to serve as key leaders in his administration:

• Arthur W. Brown, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Ecuador
• Karen Sasahara, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the State of Kuwait

Arthur W. Brown, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Ecuador

Arthur W. Brown, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor, has served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe since 2021. He was the USAID Mission Director at Embassy Harare from 2020 to 2021. Prior to that, Brown was USAID Director in the Dominican Republic from for four years, 20 months of which he was on detail to the Department of State as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Before that, Brown was USAID Director at the U.S. Embassy in Managua, Nicaragua. Additionally, Brown has served in Kabul, Afghanistan and in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo as USAID Deputy Director. Other assignments include Botswana, Guinea, Nigeria, and regional activities in Sierra Leone, Haiti, Jamaica, Barbados, and Namibia. Brown is the recipient of numerous USAID performance awards and the USAID Administrator's Management Improvement Award. He is a distinguished recipient of the Franklin H. Williams award for Outstanding Community Leaders. A Pennsylvania resident, Brown has an M.B.A. degree from Johns Hopkins University, a B.A. degree from the University of Virginia, and an M.S. degree in National Security Strategy from the National War College. Prior to joining USAID, Brown worked for Johns Hopkins University's JHPIEGO Corporation, a nonprofit organization for international health, on international maternal and child health programs, and his international development career began when Brown served as a Rural Community Development Extension Agent in the Republic of Bénin,West Africa, where he was a Peace Corps Volunteer. He speaks French and Spanish.

Karen Sasahara, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the State of Kuwait

Karen Sasahara, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor, most recently served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for North Africa. Prior to that she served as Chargé d'Affaires, ad interim of the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan. Before that, she was Consul General in Jerusalem, Senior Advisor in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, served on the Foreign Service Board of Examiners, Deputy Chief of Mission in Sana'a, Yemen, and Foreign Policy Advisor to the Commanding General of Special Operations Command Central. Earlier assignments include Baghdad, Beirut, Mexico City, London, Jeddah, and Washington, D.C. Sasahara is the recipient of numerous State Department performance awards, including five Senior Foreign Service Performance Awards. A native of Massachusetts, she holds an M.A. in Near East Studies from the George Washington University, and a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She speaks Arabic, Spanish, French and Russian.