President Donald Trump has nominated Senator Kyle McCarter of Illinois as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of US to Kenya.
Trump made the announcements on Wednesday.
If McCarter’s nomination is approved, he will take over from Robert Godec who has served since January 16, 2013.
Sources at the US Embassy in Nairobi told the Star that Godec has not been recalled but will go back to Washington for reassignment.
“He is the longest-serving US ambassador in the world as well as in Kenya. He has been asked to extend his tour of duty twice and now that the elections are done, and the handshake happened, it is a good time for the transition,” the source said on Thursday,
The insider added that the Godec team is committed to a smooth transition as they await the Senate confirmation of McCarter.
McCarter, an Illinois manufacturer and politician, has been President and owner of Custom Product Innovations since 1996, and of Custom Coating Innovations since 2009.
According to the White House website, McCarter has also been a State Senator in the Illinois General Assembly since 2009.
From 1984-1989, he served as a field auditor, Missionary and International Director of Each One Feed One International, based in Lebanon, Illinois with an office in Mukothima, Kenya.
McCarter volunteered as a Member of Mercy Ministries of America (now Mercy Multiplied) and served as its President for a year. He has been a member of numerous Chambers of Commerce in Illinois.
The nominee earned a B.S. at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
