Sherry Keneson-Hall became Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) in September 2025. A career member of the Foreign Service, she has held a range of senior leadership positions across the Department. Most recently, she served as Director for Afghanistan Affairs in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs (2024–2025) and previously as Director of the Office of Press and Public Diplomacy in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs (2021–2024).

Her previous assignments include serving as Fulbright Branch Chief for Europe in ECA (2019-2021); Public Affairs Officer at the US Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands; and Cultural Affairs Officer in Prague, Czech Republic, and Sofia, Bulgaria. She has also held positions as Consular Officer in Brussels, Belgium; Assistant Information Officer at the US Mission to the European Union; and Deputy Public Affairs Officer in Conakry, Guinea.

Keneson-Hall won the Lois Roth Award for Cultural Diplomacy in 2014, earned three Superior Honor Awards, and multiple Meritorious Honor Awards. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Rhode Island, a bachelor’s degree from Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, and an associate degree from Ashland Community College in Ashland, Kentucky. She speaks Bulgarian, Czech, Dutch, and French. Keneson-Hall is married and has two sons.