The Foreign Service Journal, December 2019

42 DECEMBER 2019 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Nelson B. Delavan Award for an Office Management Specialist Katherine Elizabeth Koehler Taking onMany Tasks in Ethiopia I n addition to her full-time role as an office management specialist (OMS), Katherine Elizabeth Koehler simulta- neously serves as U.S. Embassy Addis Ababa’s de facto full-time staff assistant and has been instrumental in tracking and coordinating multifaceted efforts to support major Ethiopian governmental reforms. Ambassador Michael Raynor, who nominated her for the Delavan Award, calls Ms. Koehler “the finest OMS I’ve worked with in my 31-year career.” During the past year, Ethiopia under- went a stunning reinvention from a coun- try deeply hostile to democracy, human rights and free-market economics to one that welcomes an expanded relationship with the United States while pursuing a huge reform agenda to embrace Western values, foreign invest- ment and multiparty democracy. If successful, Ethiopia’s ambitious but vulnerable reforms will benefit core U.S. security, commercial and political interests. Helping the reforms succeed, which has enormously increased the volume and complexity of the workload at Embassy Addis, is one of the U.S. government’s top priorities in Africa. Ms. Koehler led an interagency project to survey Ethiopia’s population to learn how they feel about their country’s reform agenda and the United States. Also in her staff assistant role, Ms. Koehler superbly supported the embassy’s interagency response to a major Ethiopian Airlines crash in March that involved a U.S.-built aircraft and the tragic deaths of 157 people. During long and stressful days over several weeks, Ms. Koehler secured multiple high-stakes and last-minute meetings and phone calls for Amb. Raynor with senior Ethiopian officials to elicit candor and ensure U.S. participation in the crash investigation. She coordinated daily situation reports to Washington and ensured empathetic and responsive front office support to families of American crash victims. COURTESYOFKATHERINEKOEHLER COURTESYOFKATHERINEKOEHLER Katherine Koehler, left, with Kariftu, a Safe Motherhood Ambassador for the Healing Hands of Joy organization. Katherine Koehler with a group of Ethiopian musicians who came to a presentation she gave on black opera singers during Black History Month.