Education
He has studied Italian, Serbo-Croatian and Turkish at the National Foreign Affairs Training Center of the State Department.
He has studied Italian, Serbo-Croatian and Turkish at the National Foreign Affairs Training Center of the State Department.
He previously served as the United States. Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) from 2010 to 2013. Prior to his ambassadorship, Kelly held a variety of high-level roles at the United States. State Department, including serving as the department spokesman under Secretary Hillary Clinton, and has extensive experience working on issues relating to North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Russia, and the Balkans. Before beginning his career at the State Department, Kelly taught Russian at Columbia University, where he also received his doctorate in Slavic Languages and Literatures in 1986.
He also holds a Bachelor of Arts from Saint Olaf College and a Master of Arts from Northwestern University.
After joining the Foreign Service, he served in a variety of positions, including the Director of the Information Center in Belgrade, Yugoslavia from 1990 to 1992, and Assistant Cultural Affairs Officer in Leningrad and Moscow, United States.S.R. from 1987 to 1990. In these capacities, Kelly was involved in setting up embassies across the former Soviet Republics, a task that took him to all 15 newly independent states.
In 1994, Kelly was appointed Director of Democratic Initiatives to the Newly Independent States (Network Information Service) at the State Department where he coordinated the activities of nearly a dozen federal agencies involved in democracy building in the former Soviet Union, and oversaw an annual budget of around $80 million. He later served as Press Attaché at the American Embassy in Ankara (1997-2000), Press Attaché at Embassy Rome (2000-2004), and Public Affairs Advisor at the United States. Mission to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (2004-2007).
In August 2007, Kelly was appointed Director of the Office of Russian Affairs in Washington District of Columbia, where he was responsible for managing the development and implementation of United States. policy towards Russia, and later served as a senior spokesperson for the State Department in Washington.
On November 30, 2009, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Kelly to be United States. Representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, with the rank of Ambassador. His nomination was presented to the Senate by United States. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (Doctorate-Doctor of Medicine), Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (United States Helsinki Commission), who praised Kelly"s deep experience serving throughout the former Soviet Union, and emphasized the critical role of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in the current geopolitical climate. Kelly was confirmed by the Senate on March 10, 2010 by a voice vote with bipartisan support.
Prior to his appointment, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe position had been vacant for over a year.
Kelly"s tenure as Ambassador coincided with several major geopolitical events for Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe countries, including pro-democracy protests in Russia, a controversial constitutional amendment in Kazakhstan extending the tenure of President Nursultan Nazarbayev through 2020, and ethnic riots in Kyrgyzstan in 2010. In 2012-2013, Kelly was the United States. Company-Chair of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Minsk Group, the diplomatic mechanism set up to resolve the conflict in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Kelly was replaced by Daniel Baer on September 10, 2013. On March 12, 2015, President Obama has nominated Ian C. Kelly, to be the next United States. Ambassador to Georgia.
He was confirmed by the Senate on June 25th, 2015.
He was sworn in on September 11, 2015.