Peterson, Lisa J., 1964-

<p>Lisa J. Peterson, a career Foreign Service officer, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Nov. 19, 2015 as the U.S. ambassador to Swaziland. It is her first such posting.</p>

<p>Peterson is a graduate of the University of Rochester, earning a B.A. in political science, in 1986. The following year she took a job at the University’s Carlson Mathematics and Sciences Library, and in 1988 she worked for the University of Rochester’s Department of Chemistry. She joined the Foreign Service in 1989, with one of her first postings coming as a consular officer in the embassy at Bangui in the Central African Republic, where she worked for two years. In 1991 she began a two-year term as vice consul at the U.S. Consulate General Durban in South Africa.</p>

<p>In the United States, she was an analyst for Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. Peterson was sent in 1996 to the embassy in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo as a political officer. Two years later, she took on a similar role in Lusaka, Zambia, and in 2002 was a political officer again at the embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.</p>

<p>Peterson returned to the United States in 2006 to be deputy director of the Office of Central African Affairs. The following year she was back in Africa, this time as the cultural officer in Abuja, Nigeria. In 2009, Peterson was made deputy chief of mission at the embassy in Yaounde, Cameroon, serving at times as chargé d’affaires.</p>

<p>She was brought home in 2012 to serve as director of the Office of Multilateral and Global Affairs in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Much of her work there focused on the treatment of LGBT people in other countries. She held that post until her nomination as ambassador.</p>

<p>Peterson, who speaks French, is married; her husband also works for the State Department.</p>

<p>Lisa Peterson joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1989. She has been serving as Ambassador to Eswatini (Swaziland) since early 2016. Prior to this current assignment, she served as Director for the Office of Multilateral and Global Affairs in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor from 2012 to 2015. From 2009 until the summer of 2012, Lisa served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Yaounde, Cameroon. Prior to that, she served in political, public affairs and consular positions in Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Zaire/Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, and the Central African Republic.</p>

<p>Other Washington assignments have been in the Bureau of African Affairs, where she was Deputy Director in the Office of Central African Affairs, and in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, where she was an analyst for Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru. Her political work has included tracking democratic transitions, monitoring human rights issues, following refugee issues, and supporting peace negotiations in DRC, Sudan, and Somalia. As DCM in Cameroon, she coordinated the efforts of five agencies to initiate a PEPFAR county operational plan.</p>

<p>Lisa J. Peterson (born 1964) is an American diplomat and current United States Ambassador to Eswatini. She was nominated by President Barack Obama in September 16, 2015, and confirmed by the Senate on Nov. 19, 2015.</p>

<p>Peterson is a 1986 graduate of the University of Rochester, where she earned a B.A. in political science.</p>

<p>After college graduation Peterson accepted a position at the University of Rochester’s Carlson Mathematics and Sciences Library. In 1988 she joined the University’s Department of Chemistry.</p>

<p>In 1989 Peterson joined the Foreign Service. She served in the embassy in the Central African Republic, and after two years accepted a two-year assignment as vice consul at the U.S. Consulate General in South Africa.</p>

<p>Peterson then returned to the U.S. an analyst for Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. In 1996 she began a series of international assignments to Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo; Lusaka, Zambia, and Nairobi, Kenya.</p>

<p>In 2006 Peterson returned to the U.S. as deputy director of the Office of Central African Affairs in the Bureau of African Affairs.</p>

<p>In 2007 she returned to Africa as the cultural officer in Abuja, Nigeria. Two years later she became deputy chief of mission at the embassy in Yaounde, Cameroon.</p>

<p>When she was nominated in November 16, 2015 to become United States Ambassador to Swaziland (now Eswatini), she was Director of the Office of Multilateral and Global Affairs in the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, a position she had held since 2012.</p>

<p>Peterson is married to Siza Ntshakala, a fellow State Department employee. They have a son.</p>