Deborah Kennedy-Iraheta
USAID/El Salvador Mission Director

*****

Deborah Kennedy-Iraheta is the Director for U.S. Agency for International Development Mission in El Salvador.  She assumed this position in July 2006.  Because USAID/El Salvador serves as a regional USAID hub mission, Kennedy-Iraheta has three key management responsibilities: the USAID/El Salvador bilateral program, the Central America-Mexico regional program, and the provision of regional support services to other regional missions.

As Mission Director, Kennedy-Iraheta manages a $45 million combined bilateral and regional budget and supports programming that focuses on accelerating economic growth and prosperity by promoting democracy, sharing the benefits of trade-led growth, expanding and diversifying the economy, and contributing to healthier and better educated people.

Kennedy-Iraheta previously served as the Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Asia and the Near East Bureau, USAID.  She assumed this position in August 2005, and provided leadership and support for USAID Missions and programs in the East Asia and Pacific, including Burma, Vietnam, and other non-presence countries.  She served concurrently as the Office Director for East Asian Affairs.

A senior Foreign Service Officer, Kennedy-Iraheta has served for more than 30 years with USAID, including assignments in two overseas posts and in Washington, D.C.

In 2005, she served as the Chief Operating Officer for the USAID Tsunami Relief and Reconstruction Task Force.  From 1999-2004, she was the Deputy Mission Director for the USAID Mission in Guatemala, where she directed a $100 million program supporting the Guatemalan peace accords and managed day-to-day operations of the mission. 

Other positions formerly held include the Office Director for Democracy and Governance in El Salvador, the Office Director for Program Management in Guatemala, and the Office Director for Project Development in El Salvador. 

As a Civil Service member from 1975-1986, she served as a program analyst and international cooperation specialist in the Office of Private and Voluntary Cooperation.
A native of Washington, D.C., Kennedy-Iraheta received her bachelor’s degree in economics and international public policy from George Mason University and will complete her master’s degree in management in September 2006.