Katherine Duffy Dueholm, a Senior Foreign Service officer with over 32 years of experience, is the Deputy Commandant of the Eisenhower School. She served most recently as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere, where she was responsible for operations and policy covering over 14,000 employees across over 50 diplomatic institutions throughout the Americas and in Washington, while serving concurrently as Senior Representative for Mexico. Prior to that she was the Deputy Assistant Secretary for North America, responsible for the U.S. relationship with Canada and Mexico. From 2022 - 2025, she served as Deputy Chief of Mission in El Salvador, where she was awarded the Government of El Salvador’s Medal of Diplomatic Merit for her nearly six months as Chargé d’Affaires. Previous assignments include Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Mexico and Central America; Director for Mexican Affairs; Director for Caribbean Affairs; and Director for Regional Affairs in the Department of State's Legislative Affairs Bureau. From 2014-2016, she served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Timor-Leste, including over six months as Chargé d’Affaires. Her other overseas assignments include Germany, Guyana, Botswana and Brazil. In Washington, she was a Special Assistant in the Executive Secretariat; served on detail to the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office as Deputy Director for the U.S-Chile Free Trade Agreement; worked on North American trade; and addressed North Korean issues.
Ms. Dueholm hails from Charleston, SC. She has a Bachelor’s Degree from Wake Forest University, and Master’s Degrees from the George Washington University and the Eisenhower School. She is a past treasurer of the National Capitol Area YWCA and past president of the board of the American School of Brasilia. She and her husband Mark have two children.