Ken Roberts is the associate administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service.

From July 1996 until his selection for this position Roberts served as FAS’s minister-counselor for agricultural affairs at the U.S. Mission to the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. In that position he represented U.S. multilateral interests in the WTO and bilateral agricultural concerns with Switzerland.

Roberts was FAS’s deputy assistant administrator for international trade policy from 1994-96, after having served as director of the agency’s Western Europe and Inter-Americas Division from 1991-94. During the 1980s he served in several managerial and staff positions with FAS in the areas of commodity marketing programs and export credits. From 1983-88 he was the assistant agricultural attaché for FAS in London.

Roberts began his career with FAS in 1980 as an agricultural economist in the Office of the General Sales Manager. He worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay from 1977-79, concentrating on special development projects with the Paraguayan Ministry of Agriculture.

Patrick Steel, the previous associate administrator of FAS, is now a senior vice president at Freedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co., Inc., an investment bank headquartered in Arlington, Va. •