Shelby Smith-Wilson

Ms. Smith-Wilson is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service and is currently the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of International Narcotics & Law Enforcement Affairs.  She most recently served as the Deputy Director of the Foreign Service Institute.  Previously she was the Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources.  Other leadership assignments include Deputy Director of the State Department’s Operations Center, Political Counselor at U.S. Embassy Madrid, and Political Counselor at U.S. Embassy Panama.  She has also served overseas in Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Kenya.  

Ms. Smith-Wilson joined the Foreign Service after interning at U.S. Embassy Caracas as a Thomas Pickering Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellow.  She holds an M.S. in National Security Strategy from the National War College, an M.A. in International Affairs from The George Washington University, and a B.A. in Political Science and Spanish from Duke University.

In 2020, she was named a Leadership Fellow by the International Women’s Forum.  She is the recipient of the State Department’s Distinguished Honor Award and several Superior Honor Awards.