Sullivan, Stephanie Sanders, 1958-

<p>Stephanie S. Sullivan, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Ghana on November 30, 2018. She formerly served as Ambassador to the Republic of Congo (2013-2017).</p>

<p>Most recently, she was the Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, after having been Deputy Assistant Secretary for Central African Affairs and Security Affairs since January 2017.</p>

<p>Ambassador Sullivan was Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources from 2011-2013. She was previously Managing Director of the Office of Management Policy, Rightsizing, and Innovation. She served multiple tours in the Executive Secretariat Operations Center, the State Department’s 24/7 briefing and crisis management center, as Director (2008-2010); Deputy Director (2003-2005); Senior Watch Officer (2002-2003); and Watch Officer (1988-89); and in the White House Situation Room (1989-90).</p>

<p>Ms. Sullivan served as the Political Chief in Accra, Ghana (1997-2001) and as a management, consular, and political officer in Douala and Yaoundé, Cameroon (1986-1988). Other Washington assignments include desk officer for Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso in the Bureau of African Affairs (1991-93) as well as post management and human resources positions supporting colleagues in Africa, Europe, and the Western Hemisphere.</p>

<p>Ms. Sullivan was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Democratic Republic of Congo (1980-1983) and later worked as Chief of Operations for the Africa Region at Peace Corps (1994-96).</p>

<p>Ambassador Sullivan graduated from Brown University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Classics and from the National War College with a Master of Science in National Security Strategy. She speaks French, Lingala, and some Spanish.</p>

<p>Stephanie Sanders Sullivan (born September 27, 1958) is an American diplomat and the current ambassador to Ghana. She served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Central African Affairs and Security Affairs for the Bureau of African Affairs from January 2017 to November 2018. She previously served as United States Ambassador to the Republic of the Congo, having been nominated by President Obama on June 13, 2013, confirmed by the Senate August 1, 2013 and served through January 20, 2017.</p>

<p>Sullivan was born Stephanie Sanders, daughter of Dr. John E. Sanders, a geologist who taught at Yale University and Barnard College and his wife, Barbara Wood Sanders, an art teacher. Sullivan attended the Hackley School. As an undergraduate, Sullivan attended Brown University, where she majored in English language and literature and received the Francis Driscoll Premium Award from the Classics Department. She also excelled as a collegiate athlete. She played soccer and lacrosse all four years, and made All-Ivy teams in ice hockey, lacrosse and soccer. She graduated with a B.A. in 1980.</p>

<p>Sullivan later received an M.S. in security strategy from the National Defense University at the National War College.</p>

<p>Sullivan began her career with service in The Peace Corps, working in the Democratic Republic of Congo (then Zaire) from 1980 to 1983, teaching English in Mbanza Mboma. It was in the Peace Corps that she met her husband, John Sullivan, who was serving as a volunteer in Zaire.</p>

<p>When she embarked on a career as a U.S. diplomat, Sullivan returned to Africa, serving as a consular and political officer in Cameroon from 1986 to 1988. In 1988 she began the first of several tours with the Executive Secretariat Operations Center. Other assignments included serving as Chief of Operations for the Africa Region of Peace Corps from 1994 to 96, as well as a role as Political Chief at the U.S. Embassy in Ghana. Just before accepting the role as Ambassador, she served two years as Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources.</p>

<p>Sullivan was nominated to be the next ambassador to Ghana by President Donald Trump on July 9, 2018 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on September 6, 2018. She presented her credentials to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on January 23, 2019.</p>

<p>Sullivan and her husband, John, have two sons. In addition to English, she speaks French, Spanish and Lingala.</p>