Acting Deputy Chief of Mission
Lawrence Lee Hess, a career Foreign Service Officer, arrived in Nepal in July 2009.
Kathmandu is Mr. Hess’s ninth overseas assignment. Two of those were in South Asia: in Mumbai and Peshawar. He has also served in Iraq, Germany, Zimbabwe, Armenia, Bolivia, and Colombia, and in Washington DC in the State Department's Bureaus of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor and Political-Military Affairs.
Mr. Hess grew up in Seattle and attended the University of Washington. He has degrees in history and law. Prior to entering the Foreign Service, Mr. Hess served in the Air Force and then as an attorney for the Department of Defense. His wife and two of his children are with him in Kathmandu. Two other sons study in the United States. He speaks German and Spanish.