Mary Beth Leonard

Mary Beth Leanord is the Representative of the United States of America to the African Union appointed to that position by Barack Obama July 5, 2016. Previously she served as the United States Ambassador to Mali from 2011-2014.

Early life and education

Ambassador Leonard, a native of Massachusetts, graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. from Boston University, with a major in economics and a minor in French. In 1988, she earned a master’s degree in international relations, with an emphasis on African studies, from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. In 2004, she received a Master’s of Security and Strategic studies the U.S. Naval War College, with distinction.

She speaks French, Spanish, Afrikaans, and Dutch.

Career

After joining the State Department in 1988, Ambassador Leonard served overseas as an economic and consular officer in Yaoundé, Cameroon; Windhoek, Namibia; and Lomé, Togo. She also worked in the Department’s Operations Center and in its Office of Central African Affairs. She then served as political and economic officer in Cape Town, South Africa and thereafter as Deputy Chief of Mission in Paramaribo, Suriname.

Ambassador Leonard was the Director for West African Affairs at the U.S. Department of State from 2009-2011, and Deputy Chief of Mission in Bamako, Mali from 2006-2009.

She was the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Mali from 2011-2014. Her service in Mali was recognized with the Department’s Diplomacy for Human Rights Award in 2013, an honor that annually recognizes a U.S. Chief of Mission who has demonstrated extraordinary commitment to defending human rights and advancing democratic principles in his or her host country.

Afterwards, she served as the State Department’s Senior Faculty Advisor at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, following a year as the Department’s Diplomat in Residence for New England, based at Tufts University.

Ambassador Mary Beth Leonard was appointed by President Obama as the Representative of the United States of America to the African Union, with the rank and status of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, on July 5, 2016. She serves as U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Government document "2016 Biography, United States Department of State".