Ambassador Betty King was nominated on October 22, 2009, by President Obama to serve as the Representative of the United States to the Office of the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva. She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and attested by the President on February 12, 2010.
Ambassador King served as the United States Representative to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. In that capacity, she worked on human rights, development, children, aging, and population issues. She was the principal U.S. negotiator on the Millennium Development Goals.
Ambassador King has an extensive background in philanthropy having served as the Vice President of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of disadvantaged children. She served as the Senior Advisor to the CEO of the California Endowment where she worked to improve health services and systems, and as an advisor to the Atlantic Philanthropies on their programs for children and youth.
In the public sector, Ambassador King has served as the Deputy Commissioner for Mental Health Services in the District of Columbia, as the Director of the Department on Aging in Arkansas, and as an Assistant professor at the University of Arkansas. She currently serves on the boards of Refugees International, The United Nations Association of the United States, Phoenix House, and on the Advisory Board of the Annenberg School of Public Diplomacy.
Ambassador King earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, a Masters Degree at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, was a National Humanities Fellow at Harvard University, and a Public Policy Fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles.
