Lisa Kenna

Lisa S. Dougherty Kenna (née Dougherty; born August 19, 1965) is an American diplomat who has served as Executive Secretary of the United States Department of State since January 2025. She served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Intelligence and Research from September 11, 2023, to January 20, 2025. She had served as the United States ambassador to Peru from March 2021 to September 2023. She served as Acting Secretary of State for only a day, as Senator Marco Rubio was confirmed by the Senate on the day of her appointment, and was later sworn in on January 21, 2025.

Early life and education Kenna is the daughter of Air Force Colonel Andrew Joseph Dougherty and Marjorie Marie (Schrader) Dougherty. Kenna studied at Middlebury College and the University of Connecticut School of Law. She worked as an attorney in private practice before joining the Central Intelligence Agency. She spent nine years with the CIA and then joined the Foreign Service.

Career

She served as the executive secretary of the United States Department of State beginning in 2017, succeeding Joseph E. Macmanus, during Donald Trump's first term.

On October 1, 2019, a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit was issued by American Oversight, an American activist group, against the U.S. Department of State, requesting communications of a list of several officials including Kenna in connection to the Trump–Ukraine scandal. In the same week, text messages were released, including a single text where Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland redirected Acting Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor to Kenna over concerns that Taylor held.

On May 1, 2020, President Trump announced his intent to nominate Kenna to be the next United States Ambassador to the Republic of Peru. On July 23, 2020, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. On November 18, 2020, her nomination was confirmed in the United States Senate by voice vote. Lisa Kenna presented her credentials to the President Francisco Sagasti on March 22, 2021 On September 8, 2023, she was succeeded in the role by ad interim Chargé d'Affaires John T. McNamara.

On January 20, 2025, President Trump, newly inaugurated for his second term, appointed Kenna to serve as Acting Secretary of State for an interim basis until the U.S. Senate voted to confirm President Trump's nominee, Senator Marco Rubio. She speaks Arabic, Persian and Urdu.