Riga, August 25, 2015 – The new U.S. Ambassador to Latvia, Nancy Bikoff Pettit, will arrive in Riga on Friday, August 28. She will begin her official duties after presenting her credentials to the President of Latvia, Raimonds Vejonis, on September 8.
President Barack Obama nominated Nancy Bikoff Pettit to be Ambassador to Latvia on September 8, 2014. She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 24 and sworn in at the State Department on July 29.
Ambassador Pettit is a career member of the Foreign Service, Class of Counselor. Most recently she served as Director of the Office of Western European Affairs in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, a position which she held since 2013. Previously she served as Director of the Office of Policy Planning and Coordination in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (2010–2013). Ambassador Pettit has also served as Counselor for Law Enforcement Policy and Assistance in Moscow; Press Attaché in Kyiv; and Political Unit Chief in Vienna. In Washington, Ambassador Pettit has worked in the Coordinator’s Office for Assistance to Newly Independent States, the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and the Board of Examiners. She has also worked at the American Institute in Taiwan. Ambassador Pettit has received seven Meritorious Honor awards and two Superior Honor awards. She has a Master’s Degree from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor’s Degree from Vassar College. She speaks Russian, Ukrainian, German, and Spanish and is learning Latvian. Ambassador Pettit is married to James D. Pettit (also a Foreign Service Officer) and has two grown children.
