Thomas-Greenfield, Linda – USUN – January 2021

REPORT FOR THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE

SUBJECT: Ambassadorial Nomination: Certificate of
Demonstrated Competence — Foreign Service
Act, Section 304(a)(4)

POST: Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations, with the rank
of Ambassador, and Representative of the United States of America in the Security
Council of the United Nations

CANDIDATE: Linda Thomas – Greenfield

Linda Thomas-Greenfield served the United States for thirty-five years as a career diplomat including as Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources, and U.S. Ambassador to Liberia. Most recently, Ms. Thomas-Greenfield led the African practice of the Albright-Stonebridge group, a global business strategy and commercial diplomacy firm, until she joined the Biden Transition Team late in 2020. She also was the inaugural Distinguished Resident Fellow in African Studies at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University. Her extensive diplomatic experience coupled with her distinguished record as a leader in the foreign affairs community, in the private sector and in academia, make her well qualified to serve as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations.

Ms. Thomas-Greenfield’s Foreign Service career also included postings at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Switzerland, as well as in Kenya, Nigeria, The Gambia, Pakistan, and Jamaica. She served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs and as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. Ms. Thomas-Greenfield taught political science at Bucknell University before joining the Foreign Service in 1982.

Ms. Thomas-Greenfield earned a bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University and a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Bishop John T. Walker Distinguished Humanitarian Service, the Warren Christopher Award for Outstanding Achievement in Global Affairs and the Presidential Meritorious Service Award. She was a 2010 inductee into the Louisiana State University Alumni Association Hall of Distinction.