U.S. President Donald Trump has nominated Kimberly Greenwood, the wife of country singer Lee Greenwood, to serve as the United States ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean.
Greenwood was among a slate of ambassadorial and other nominations submitted by the Trump administration to the U.S. Senate on Monday, September 14. Her nomination will require Senate confirmation before she can take up the post.
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If confirmed, Greenwood would serve as ambassador to Barbados and, concurrently and without additional compensation, as the U.S. ambassador to St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The arrangement reflects the practice of having one U.S. ambassador oversee diplomatic relations with several smaller Eastern Caribbean nations.
Greenwood, 59, is a former Miss Tennessee USA who has worked in the pageant industry for decades. She currently directs the Miss Tennessee, Miss Mississippi and Miss Georgia state pageants and previously spent 18 years working with the Miss Universe Organization during the period when Trump owned the organization.
Following the announcement, Greenwood thanked Trump for the nomination in a social media post, describing it as one of the greatest honors of her life. She said that, if confirmed, she would seek to listen, learn and build relationships with the people and governments of the Caribbean countries she would represent.
Her husband, Lee Greenwood, is closely associated with Trump. His signature song, “God Bless the USA,” has been used as Trump’s walk-on music at political events, and the two have also collaborated commercially on the sale of a “God Bless the USA Bible.” Lee Greenwood has said his wife worked with Trump for 18 years through the Miss Universe Organization.
Greenwood’s nomination comes as the Trump administration continues to fill several U.S. ambassadorial posts. If confirmed, she would become Washington’s chief diplomatic representative in Barbados while also overseeing U.S. diplomatic relations with six other Eastern Caribbean states.
