Consul General

Consul General Kenneth J. Fairfax

Kenneth Fairfax’s 20 years of service as a career diplomat in the United States Foreign Service has included service around the globe and in a variety of functional areas.  His last overseas assignment was as Consul General at the U.S. Consulate General in Krakow in the Republic of Poland, where Mr. Fairfax was particularly active in the areas of strengthening bilateral economic ties and promoting reconciliation and understanding among groups from the United States, Poland and elsewhere who continue to cope with the horrible legacy of the Holocaust and the notorious Nazi concentration camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau which the Nazis built near Krakow during World War II.

From 2000 to 2002, Mr. Fairfax was the Counselor for Economics at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, where spurring economic development, creating a stable investment environment, combating corruption and closing the dangerous Chernobyl nuclear reactor topped the U.S. economic agenda.  From 1997 to 200l he was the Deputy Consul General in Vancouver, Canada, where he spearheaded the Consulate’s efforts to prepare for the 1997 APEC Summit and assisted in the resolution of trade disputes.  While working in the Russia Federation from 1993 to 1995, Mr. Fairfax specialized in nuclear issues, helping to bring Russian and American nuclear scientists together on projects to improve the safety of civilian nuclear reactors and to ensure the safe storage and disposal of nuclear materials recovered from dismantled nuclear weapons.  Prior to working in Russia, Mr. Fairfax served at the U.S. Embassy in Muscat, the capital of the Sultanate of Oman, as well as in both Pusan and Seoul in the Republic of Korea.

In 1995, former President Clinton appointed Mr. Fairfax as the first Director for Nuclear Materials Security at the U.S. National Security Council.  While on loan from the Department of State to the White House, Mr. Fairfax also served as National Security Council Director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia.

Mr. Fairfax has twice received one of the Department of State’s annual worldwide awards honoring outstanding performance, once for his work on economic issues in Ukraine in 2002 and once for his work on Environmental, Science and Technology issues in Russia in 1994.  Mr. Fairfax has also received numerous other awards and citations, including Superior Honor Awards for outstanding service in 2005, 2002, 1998, 1993 and 1992.

Prior to joining the U.S. State Department in 1987, Mr. Fairfax was the president of a computer firm in California’s “Silicon Valley.”  He also worked as an economic consultant with a firm specializing in urban economic development.

Kenneth Fairfax is married to Nyetta Yarkin.  He and his wife both graduated from Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. His hobbies include history, cooking and the study of cultures.