About Speaker

Amb. Kate Marie Byrnes has a 32-year diplomatic career, during which she advanced U.S. interests and strengthened military, political, economic, educational, and cultural ties between the United States and Europe. As U.S. Ambassador to North Macedonia from 2019 to 2022, she earned a Presidential Rank Award for her contributions to foreign policy and security in Central Europe.

Earlier in her career, from 2004 to 2007, she served in Budapest, working to expand Hungary’s contributions to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), strengthen its democratic institutions, and grow its economy, as a new European Union (EU) member, through public-private partnerships. She continued her engagement with Hungary’s political, economic and security institutions during assignments at NATO, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and U.S. European Command (USEUCOM).

Amb. Byrnes is currently a Distinguished Fellow of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs, and a Principal of KMB Strategies LLC, providing strategic advice and pragmatic solutions to institutions and individuals working to address geopolitical challenges. She and her husband, Captain Scott Gage, USN (Ret), split their time between Rutledge, Tennessee, and Sarasota, Florida. Ambassador Byrnes holds Bachelor of Science and Master’s Degrees from Georgetown University.