Debra Hevia is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, rank of Minister Counselor.  She began her assignment as Deputy Chief of Mission in Quito, Ecuador in August 2020.

Previously, Ms. Hevia was Director of the Mid-Level Division in the Office of Career Development and Assignments, Bureau of Global Talent Management, where she championed reforms to provide career flexibilities to Foreign Service Officers and Specialists.  Other Foreign Service assignments include Political Counselor in Romania; Political Counselor in Panama; American Presence Post Officer in Bolivia; Political-Economic Section Chief in Slovakia; Political Officer in Nicaragua; Desk Officer in the Office of Central American Affairs; Watch Officer in the Department of State’s Operations Center; Consul in the Netherlands; and Political Officer in Bolivia.  She joined the Foreign Service in 1991.

Ms. Hevia grew up in upstate New York.  She earned a B.A. in International Studies from American University in Washington, DC.  She speaks Spanish, Romanian, Slovak, and Dutch.