Kelly Craft

Kelly Craft

30th US Ambassador to the United Nations and 31st US Ambassador to Canada

Ambassador Kelly Craft, United States

Ambassador Craft was sworn in as the Representative of the United States to the United Nations in September 2019 and held the position until January 2021.     While leading the US Mission to the United Nations, Ambassador Craft’s highest distinction of service to her country was the implementation of the historic Abraham Accords - the most significant turning point in the Middle East peace process in fifty years.. The Accords normalized relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.  She fought daily against anti-Israel bias at the United Nations and continually sought opportunities to strengthen ties between the United States and Israel socially, economically and diplomatically.   Ambassador Craft served as the US Ambassador to Canada from October 2017 until 2019. During her time, she worked through the complex revisiting of the NAFTA treaty, known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).  This agreement was not only for its economic magnitude, but for its cutting-edge labor laws that protected the dignity of workers in all three countries.   Ambassador Craft has served on numerous boards, currently including the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC), the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Canadian American Business Council Advisory Board.. Ambassador Craft has a deep commitment to education, including serving on the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees and co-founding the Morehead State University Craft Academy for Excellence in Science and Mathematics. With her husband Joe, she co-founded the Craft Innovation Campus for the Boys & Girls Club of Glasgow-Barren County, which allowed the club to have a permanent home and to expand programming in her hometown. With Ambassador Craft’s expertise and experience in international affairs, she continues to accept invitations to speak at international forums including the Munich Security Conference, Doha Forum and the GZero Japan Summit. She is a staunch defender of Taiwan and was honored to speak at the Ketagalan Forum and the Yushan Forum emphasizing the importance of regional security issues in the Indo-Pacific. Upon leaving her official post, the Chinese government imposed lifetime sanctions prohibiting Ambassador Craft from travel to and business with China.