Kimberly Furnish

Kimberly Furnish, U.S. Diplomat

Kimberly Furnish is an American diplomat. She has served as Chargé d'affaires at the U.S. Embassy in The Bahamas since June 2024.

Career

Furnish is a career foreign service officer. She previously served as the director of American Citizen Services & Crisis Management at the Department of State, where she was the senior official responsible for the protection of U.S. citizens overseas and collaborated with various agencies to enhance the security of Americans globally. Prior to this, Furnish was the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Attaché at the U.S. Consulate General in Karachi, Pakistan, and Chief of American Citizen Services at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, where she managed a consular district with over 200,000 U.S. citizens and led plans for potential evacuations from the Korean Peninsula.

In 2018, Furnish oversaw services for U.S. citizens during the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and Paralympics and served as the head control officer for Vice President Mike Pence, the chief official of the U.S. Government's Delegation to the Opening Ceremonies. Her other assignments include tours in Melbourne, Bogotá, Curaçao, and roles within the Bureau of Consular Affairs and the Bureau of African Affairs at the Department of State.

Furnish was a runner-up for the Barbara M. Watson Award for Consular Excellence in 2018 and 2019. Before joining the Foreign Service, she worked in corporate fundraising and earned a bachelor's degree from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Personal

Furnish was born Kimberly Hope Rengel to parents David and Karen Rengel in Charlotte, North Carolina. She is the youngest of three daughters. Following North Carolina she lived in Louisiana, Missouri, and Florida. Furnish graduated from Winter Park High School in Winter Park, Florida, where she was a varsity member of the women's crew team. Furnish attended Tulane University and majored in studio art. Some of her prints and paintings are in the permanent collection at Tulane and The University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Furnish has three children.