Ambassador Kenneth J. Fairfax

Ambassador Kenneth J. Fairfax

Kenneth J. Fairfax is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the personal rank of Minister Counselor.  He joined the United States Foreign Service in 1987.

His previous overseas assignments include Minister-Counselor for Economic Affairs at U.S. Embassy Baghdad, Iraq; Consul General at the U.S. Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Consul General at U.S. Consulate General Krakow, Poland; Counselor for Economics at U.S. Embassy Kyiv, Ukraine; Deputy Principal Officer at U.S. Consulate General Vancouver, Canada; Environment Science and Technology Officer at U.S. Embassy Moscow, Russia; Consul at U.S. Embassy Seoul, Korea; Vice Consul at U.S. Consulate Pusan, Korea; and Economics & Commercial Officer at U.S. Embassy Muscat, Oman.  He also served on the U.S. National Security Council Staff as Director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia and as Director for Nuclear Materials Security.   
  
He is the recipient of three world-wide Department of State awards, the "Salzman Award" for outstanding achievement by an Economics Officer, the Assistant Secretary's Award for outstanding achievement by an Environment, Science and Technology Officer, and the "Sinclair Award" for outstanding achievement in a hard language.  Prior to joining the State Department Mr. Fairfax was the President of a small technology company in California's "Silicon Valley" and had previously worked as an urban economist with a private consulting firm in San Francisco, California.  He is joined in Kazakhstan by his wife, Nyetta Yarkin.