Board of Advisors: Melinda Kimble

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs

Ms. Melinda Kimble was named Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES) in August 1997. As there was no Assistant Secretary at that time, she also became Acting Assistant Secretary. OES develops and implements U.S. policy on international science and technology, fisheries, oceans, and global environmental issues. Previously, Ms. Kimble served as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs (IO), where she oversaw U.S. policy toward a wide range of economic and social issues in the United Nations. In this capacity, she developed the U.S. negotiating strategies for recent UN conferences, including Cairo, Copenhagen, and Beijing. Kimble is a career Foreign Service Officer, joining the Department of State in January 1971. She was promoted to the Senior Foreign Service in 1989, and promoted to the rank of Minister Counselor in 1993. Before assuming her IO position, Kimble was the Director of the Office of Egyptian Affairs in the Near East and South Asia Bureau. From 1987 to 1989 she served as the Deputy and Acting Director of the Office of Monetary Affairs in the Economic and Business Bureau. She has also served in Tunisia, Egypt, and Cote d'Ivoire as well as in the Africa Bureau in Washington.