By IANS,
Kolkata : In a change of guard, Beth A. Payne has taken up her assignment as the new US Consul General here. She succeeds Henry V. Jardine who returns to Washington after a three-year stay.
“Payne is a career foreign service officer who has previously been posted to US embassies in Senegal, Rwanda, Israel and Kuwait. In 2003, she opened the office of the US consul in Baghdad, Iraq,” a press statement released by the US Consulate office said.
She also served in the office of children’s issues in the Department of State in Washington, D.C.
Payne, a native of Pennsylvania, visited India for a few days in 1994.
“The economic development in India since my last visit has been very dramatic and I am very excited to be living in Kolkata and representing the US Government,” she said after assuming charge Aug 1.
Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Payne worked as a staff attorney for the National District Attorneys Association’s National Center for the prosecution of child abuse.