US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield: World Leaders Forum Address
Seton Hall's School of Diplomacy and International Relations continues to expand its reputation for hosting exciting and engaging World Leaders this Spring with speaker events featuring Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leymah Gbowee and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield. Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield's visit will mark the School's first in-person World Leaders Forum Event since 2019. The School's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice Coalition is proud to welcome these influential guests as part of its initiative to bring diverse international affairs leaders to campus.
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield was sworn in as the Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations as well as the Representative of the United States of America in the Security Council of the United Nations on February 24, 2021.
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a career diplomat, returned to public service after retiring from a 35-year career with the U.S. Foreign Service in 2017. From 2013 to 2017 she served as the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, where she led the bureau focused on the development and management of U.S. policy toward sub-Saharan Africa.
Prior to this appointment, she served as Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources (2012-2013), leading a team in charge of the State Department’s 70,000-strong workforce. Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield’s distinguished Foreign Service career includes an ambassadorship to Liberia (2008-2012), and postings in Switzerland (at the United States Mission to the United Nations, Geneva), Pakistan, Kenya, The Gambia, Nigeria, and Jamaica. In Washington, she served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of African Affairs (2006-2008), and as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (2004-2006).
After retiring from the U.S. State Department in 2017, Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield led the Africa Practice at Albright Stonebridge Group. She was also the inaugural Distinguished Resident Fellow in African Studies at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University.