St. john's staff

The Rev. Anne Derse, Deacon & Minister of Community Engagement

The Reverend Anne Elizabeth Derse, a Deacon in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, serves as Deacon and Minister for Community Engagement at St. John’s Norwood Episcopal Church in Chevy Chase, Maryland, where she has worked since 2014.

At St. John’s Norwood she advances engagement with the community, the government and non-profits, connecting the church to the world and supporting ministry and advocacy on social justice issues. These include racial equity, food insecurity, gun violence prevention, support for immigrants, refugees and asilees and the LGBTQIA+ community, interfaith relations, alleviating homelessness and promoting peace in the Holy Land.

She served on the Bishop’s Task Force examining the role of the Washington National Cathedral in national life in 2017, and as a founder and Co-Chair of the EDOW Afghan Refugee Response Team in 2021. She was appointed to the Montgomery County, Maryland, County Executive’s Faith Community Advisory Group in 2021 and serves on the boards of the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, Rozana: Health Diplomacy, Nourishing Bethesda, St. John’s Norwood Opportunity Shop and the American Councils for International Education. She attended the Episcopal Diocese of Washington’s Deacon School and Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington D.C. 2015-18 and was ordained in 2018.

Prior to ordination, Anne Derse was a career Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State for over thirty years, serving in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. She was the U.S. Ambassador to Lithuania 2009-2012 and to Azerbaijan 2006-2009. She holds a Presidential Meritorious Service Award, the State Department’s Herbert Salzmann Award for Excellence in International Economic Performance, the Cordell Hull Award for Senior Economic Achievement, and six Department of State Superior Honor Awards. She received the Bethesda Chamber of Commerce Award for Excellence in Individual Leadership in 2020, and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research Leadership Award and the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture Award of Excellence in 2014. She is a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy.

She received a B.A. in French and Linguistics from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1976 and an M.A. in International Relations from John’s Hopkins SAIS in 1981. She is married with four children.