Bisa Williams

Bisa Williams (* 1954 in Trenton ) is an American diplomat .

Life

Bisa Williams is the daughter of a college professor and a surgeon. Her sisters Ntozake Shange and Ifa Bayeza are writers. Williams studied at Yale University , where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1976 . She then attended the University of California, Los Angeles and the National War College of the National Defense University . She obtained a master’s degree from both universities .

Williams joined the United States Department of State in 1984 , where she worked in Conakry until 1986 and Panama City from 1986 to 1988 . She then worked for a year at the headquarters of the State Department in Washington, DC , where she was responsible for Cape Verde , Liberia and Sierra Leone , until she was deployed to Panama again for two years after the US invasion of Panama .

Williams' other responsibilities included supporting the Commonwealth of Independent States . In 1993 she was responsible for politics and economics at the Permanent Mission of the United States to the United Nations and from 1997 to 1998 as assistant to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright . She then served as First Secretary for African Affairs at the United States Embassy in Paris .

From 2001 to 2004 Bisa Williams was Deputy Head of the US Embassy in Port Louis , Mauritius . She then worked in the White House from 2005 to 2007 as director for international organizations at the National Security Council . She later coordinated the Foreign Ministry's Cuban activities, followed by a position as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs . She visited Cuba for six days in September 2009, where she met dissidents .

Bisa Williams with Barack Obama in her time as ambassador

Bisa Williams succeeded Bernadette Allen as the United States' Ambassador to Niamey , Niger in 2010 . She left her post in 2013 and was replaced by Eunice Reddick . Williams most recently worked from 2013 as Deputy Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield, responsible for West Africa and African economic policy . She retired in 2016.

Commons : Bisa Williams - Collection of images, videos and audio files

↑ David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff: Ambassador to Niger: Who is Bisa Williams? In: AllGov.com. January 8, 2011, accessed January 22, 2018 .
^ Chiefs of Mission for Niger. Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, United States Department of State, accessed January 22, 2018 .
↑ Williams, Bisa. US Department of State, archived from the original January 13, 2014 ; accessed on January 22, 2018 (English).
^ Ambassador Bisa Williams '76, US Department of State and a 2016 Champion, Yale Day of Service. Yale University, April 22, 2016, accessed January 22, 2018 .
^ Cérémonie de décoration de l'Ambassadeur sortant des Etats Unis au Niger: SE.Mme Bisa Williams élevée au grade de Commandeur de l'Ordre du Mérite du Niger. In: Tamtam Info. September 2, 2013, accessed January 22, 2018 (French).