Karen Choe-Fichte

Karen Choe-Fichte

Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs, U.S. Embassy in Mexico

Karen Choe-Fichte (pronounced “tcho-fikty”) arrived in Mexico City July 2016 from Washington, DC, where she was Acting Director and Deputy Director in the Office of Canadian Affairs. As Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs, she is responsible for advising the Ambassador and overseeing the U.S.-Mexico bilateral economic relationship in coordination with our Consulates and interagency representatives.
A resident of Washington state, Karen joined the U.S. Department of State in 1997 and is a member of the Senior Foreign Service. Her overseas assignments include Afghanistan, Australia, Barbados, Czech Republic, Iraq, and Kuwait. Her domestic assignments include the Office of the Deputy Secretary of State, the Operations Center, and the Office of Monetary Affairs.  
Karen was a Una Chapman Cox Sabbatical Fellow in New York, a Fulbright Research Fellow in Tunis, and joined the Foreign Service as a first cohort Foreign Affairs Fellow (now the Pickering Fellowship).  Born in Seoul, South Korea, Karen immigrated to the United States when she was ten years old.  
She is a graduate of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (Master of Public Policy), Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas (Bachelor of Arts in Economics & International Studies), and Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.
She is married to fellow Foreign Service Officer and Mexico City Consul General Eric Fichte. She was once an avid triathlete and a record-holding collegiate soccer player. She is a big fan of U.S. National Parks — “America’s best idea.”