BIOGRAPHY Carol van Voorst Ambassador, Iceland Term of Appointment: 01/03/2006 to present

Carol van Voorst was sworn in by Secretary of State Rice on January 3, 2006 as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Iceland. She arrived in Iceland on January 10, 2006, and presented her credentials to President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson of Iceland on January 26, 2006.

Ambassador van Voorst, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Vienna from August 2004 to December 2005. From 2002 to 2004, she was Director of Austrian, German, and Swiss Affairs in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. She served as Deputy Chief of Mission of the U. S. Embassy in Helsinki from 1999 to 2002.

In other foreign assignments, Ambassador van Voorst served as Chief of the Political Department and subsequently Deputy High Representative at the Office of the High Representative in Sarajevo (1998-99). She was also assigned to The Netherlands (1981-82), the Sinai (Multinational Force and Observers, 1987-88), and Panama (1992-95).

At the Department of State in Washington, she served as Director of the Office of Nordic and Baltic Affairs in the Bureau of European Affairs (1995-97), as Norway/Denmark desk officer (1989-91), and as German desk officer (1985-87). Ambassador van Voorst served as Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs (1991-92) and as Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of State (1984-85).

Ambassador van Voorst received an M.A. in international security policy from the National War College in Washington, D.C., in 1998. She also holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in history from Princeton University. She received her B.A. from Hope College in Michigan.

Before joining the Foreign Service in 1980, Ambassador van Voorst taught American history at the City University of New York, edited colonial-era historical papers at New York University, and worked as a congressional aide for the Helsinki Commission in Washington.