MaryKay L Carlson on Friday took charge of the Indian Mission after Richard Verma demitted his office as the US Ambassador to India.
An announcement to this effect came here at the live viewing of the US Presidential inauguration ceremony towards the midnight.
"Deputy Chief of Mission MaryKay L. Carlson has taken over as chargé d'affaires until the appointment of a new Ambassador," the announcement said.
Verma, who presented his credentials to President Pranab Mukherjee in Rashtrapati Bhavan in January 2015, was appointed by former President Barack Obama.
Verma, a non-career diplomat, was the first person of Indian descent to be ambassador to India. He did not come up the ranks of the foreign service but was recruited in 2009 to be the Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs under Hillary Clinton when she was the Secretary of State.
He left the State Department in 2011 to work for a law firm before being appointed ambassador to India in 2014. His nomination received unanimous support from both parties in the Senate.
Long associated with the Democratic Party, he had served as the senior national security advisor to Senator Harry Reid when the Democratic Party had the Senate majority and Reid was its leader.
Verma had worked as an aide to the late Democratic Congressman Jack Murtha and as a director with National Democratic Institute for International Affairs.
A lawyer by training, he had also served in the Air Force as a judge advocate.
