Kelly Craft

Kelly Dawn Craft (née Guilfoil; born February 24, 1962) is an American businesswoman, politician, and former diplomat who served as the 30th United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2019 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. She was confirmed as the US ambassador to the United Nations by the US Senate by a vote of 56–34, and was officially sworn in September 2019.

She previously served as the 31st United States Ambassador to Canada from 2017 to 2019, the first woman to hold the office. Craft earlier was appointed by President George W. Bush as a U.S. alternate delegate to the United Nations in 2007, where her focus included U.S. engagement in Africa.

Craft heads Kelly G. Knight LLC, a business advisory firm based in Lexington, Kentucky, and serves on the advisory board of the Canadian American Business Council. She ran in the Republican primary for the 2023 Kentucky gubernatorial election, but lost to Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron.

Early life and education

Craft was born in Lexington, Kentucky, a daughter of the late Bobby Guilfoil and Sherry Dale Guilfoil, who both died in 2011. She grew up just outside Glasgow, a small town in rural central Kentucky.

Her father was the town veterinarian in Glasgow, and he farmed and raised cows and horses. He was active in the Democratic Party, and in his later years served as chairman of the Barren County, Kentucky Democratic Party. He was also a deacon of the First Christian Church in Glasgow, and served on the local board of health. Her mother was a home economics teacher at Glasgow High School, a public high school. Her mother sewed the family's clothing, and the house's draperies. She has a younger sister, Micah Guilfoil Payne (a lawyer in Glasgow), and a younger brother, Marc Guilfoil (executive director of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission).

She grew up in a middle-class family. Craft played clarinet in the high school band at Glasgow High School, and graduated in 1980.

Craft then created her own interdisciplinary major, with an emphasis on international law, at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. She graduated with a B.A. in 1984.

Consulting firm

In 2004, Craft started a marketing, strategic management, leadership advice, and business consulting firm, Kelly G. Knight, LLC. Its principal office is in Lexington. She also serves on the advisory board of the Canadian American Business Council.

Political involvement and donations; philanthropy

Craft was initially active in local politics and civic causes, such as helping the poor, and raising funds for the arts. She has been a generous donor to and supporter of primarily Republican political candidates. In 2004, Craft was a prominent supporter of President George W. Bush's reelection campaign, and co-chaired the Republican National Finance Committee. In 2012 she was the Kentucky finance committee chairwoman for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. She also raised money for then-governor Ernie Fletcher, and congressmen Hal Rogers and Ron Lewis.

She is also an influencer in Kentuckian affairs. The Crafts supported then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Craft has also supported both Democratic Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, and former Kentucky Governor, Republican Matt Bevin.

She was a delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention from Kentucky. That year, Craft and her husband Joe Craft donated millions of dollars to candidates for the 2016 Republican nomination for president. The couple initially supported Marco Rubio, but in June 2016 moved their support to Donald Trump and contributed more than $2 million to his campaign, in part because he agreed with them in private that he would not replace House Speaker Paul Ryan or Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whom they supported. Political commentator Scott Jennings said that their support gave Trump instant credibility.

Separate from politics, Craft has been a philanthropist, and the couple has donated to philanthropic causes. In 2015 they co-founded the Craft Academy for Excellence in Science and Mathematics at Kentucky's Morehead State University, a special program for academically exceptional high school students. By 2019 they had committed over $10 million to the academy. They have also donated substantial sums to the University of Kentucky.

Craft served on the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees for a term beginning in August 2016, but resigned to accept the US ambassadorship to Canada a year later. She has also served on the boards of directors of the Salvation Army, the Lexington Philharmonic, the United Way of the Bluegrass, the YMCA of Central Kentucky, the Kentucky Arts Council, and the Center for Rural Development (a nonprofit dedicated to economic development in rural Kentucky).

US Alternate Delegate to the United Nations

President George W. Bush appointed Craft an alternate delegate to the United Nations in 2007, for the 62nd Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations. On October 24, 2007, Senator Joe Biden reported favorably on her nomination on behalf of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. On October 26, she was confirmed by the United States Senate by voice vote.

As part of the US delegation, her responsibilities included advising the US Ambassador to the UN on US engagement in Africa. She also gave a speech to the UN General Assembly on the investment the US and other nations were making to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa and malaria in Africa, and promote development there. She later said: "President Bush’s example and his initiative to cure AIDS on the African continent instilled in me the value of using diplomatic positions to help the less fortunate. And that’s what I am going to do."

US Ambassador to Canada

On June 15, 2017, Craft was nominated by President Donald Trump to become the US ambassador to Canada, with the support of Senator Mitch McConnell. She was confirmed by the United States Senate by unanimous voice vote on August 3, and assumed office on October 23.

Craft became the 31st United States Ambassador to Canada. She also became the first woman to hold the job. In her first week as ambassador to Canada, Craft said in an interview with CBC News that when it came to climate change she appreciated all of the scientific evidence, and thought that "both sides have their own results, from their studies, and I appreciate and I respect both sides of the science". She played a leadership role in trade negotiations between the US and Canada, resulting in the signing of a major new free trade agreement between the US, Canada, and Mexico (the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement; USMCA), which replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Her work in hammering out the tri-lateral agreement raised her stock with the Trump administration. In addition during her tenure the relationship between the countries was the subject of controversial steel tariffs, and critical comments by Trump about the Canadian prime minister. In June 2018, as US-Canadian relations grew testy, an envelope was mailed to her containing a suspicious white powder and a death threat. Canadian columnist L. Ian MacDonald wrote: "[Craft] has been diligent and warm in her representational role. She's perhaps one of a few members of Trump's team who is genuinely blameless in this mess."