Born Lisa Shapiro, Kubiske attended college at Brandeis University, where during her junior year she spent a year abroad at Universidad La Catolica in Lima, Peru. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology and psychology in 1975, before moving on to Georgetown University and receiving a Masters of Science in Foreign Service.

 

She joined the Foreign Service in 1983.

 

Her early overseas assignments included serving as the science/technology officer and consular officer at the U.S. embassy in Mexico; economics officer at the U.S. consulate in Shanghai, China; director for the Office of Economic and Political Affairs at the U.S. consulate in Hong Kong; and deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

 

In Washington, Kubiske’s early work included being the staff officer and operations watch officer in the Office of the Executive Secretariat; economic/commercial officer in the Office of China and Mongolia Affairs; financial economist in the Office of Monetary Affairs; and special assistant to the undersecretary of state for economic, business and agricultural affairs.

 

She also served at Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service.

 

More recently, Kubiske served as the director of the Office of Regional Economic Policy and Summit Coordination in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, and as the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Brasilia, Brazil.

 

Kubiske and her husband, free-lance journalist Dan, have two sons and she has one stepdaughter.

 

Official Biography