Updated

Former U.S. diplomat Rosemary DiCarlo has been tapped as the United Nations' next political affairs chief. She'll be the first woman in the high-level post.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the appointment Wednesday. DiCarlo succeeds Jeffrey Feltman, another American who ends his assignment as undersecretary-general for political affairs Saturday.

DiCarlo is a former deputy U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and served in various State Department positions. She also worked for UNESCO during a more than 35-year career.

She's currently president of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, an group focused on solutions to conflicts involving U.S. interests. DiCarlo also is a senior fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs.

She has a doctorate in comparative literature from Brown University and speaks French and Russian.