Embassy News 2009

Lisa Helling Begins Assignment as Public Affairs Officer

6 August 2009

Lisa Helling assumed the position of Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, Poland on August 6, 2009. She recently completed an assignment as Deputy Director in the Office of Press and Public Diplomacy of the State Department’s Bureau European and Eurasian Affairs. Prior to her Washington assignment, she was Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in São Paulo, Brazil from October 2005 to July 2008. Since joining the U.S. Information Agency in 1990, Ms. Helling’s  assignments have included Cultural Center Director in Warsaw, Poland (1991-94), Public Affairs Officer in Vilnius, Lithuania (1995-99), Country Affairs Officer for Public Diplomacy for the Caucasus and Central Asia (1999-2001), and Press Attaché in Prague, Czech Republic (2002-05). Prior to joining the Foreign Service, she practiced law in Washington, DC, in the Office of Administrative Law Judges at the U.S. International Trade Commission (1982-86), and subsequently in private practice (1986-90), specializing in international trade and intellectual property law.  A native of Denver, Colorado, she holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Denver College of Law (1980), and a BA, summa cum laude in foreign languages and literatures, also from the University of Denver (1977). Her foreign languages include French, Polish, Lithuanian, Czech, and Portuguese.