THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026 21 Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield receives AFSA’s 2025 Award for Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy from AFSA President John Dinkelman on October 1, 2025, at Georgetown University. From left: Dinkelman, Dean of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service Joel Hellman, Thomas-Greenfield, and Director of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy Ambassador Barbara Bodine. As a career diplomat from 1982 to 2017, Linda ThomasGreenfield had a wide range of important assignments for six presidents, both Republican and Democrat. She served as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs (2013-2017), where she led U.S. policy development for sub-Saharan Africa and played a critical role in the U.S. response to Ebola. And she served as Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources (2012-2013), overseeing the department’s 70,000-strong workforce. In 2008 Thomas-Greenfield was named U.S. ambassador to Liberia, where she served until 2012, supporting programs that rebuilt the country’s social and physical infrastructure and restored the rule of law. Other notable overseas roles include postings in Switzerland, Pakistan, Kenya, The Gambia, Nigeria, and Jamaica. In Washington, D.C., she also served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of African Affairs (2006-2008) and as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (2004-2006). Most recently, Thomas-Greenfield served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (UN) and U.S. representative at the UN Security Council (2021-2025), called out of retirement to do so. She also served as a member of the president’s Cabinet and the National Security Council during that time. At the United Nations, Amb. Thomas-Greenfield undertook a robust agenda to help restore and strengthen American global leadership and mobilize the international community to address global challenges. As part of her work, she rallied bipartisan and worldwide support for Ukrainian sovereignty and held Russia to account for violating international laws and norms. She secured establishment of the Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti (now the Gang Suppression Force) to address gang violence and restore long-term stability. She highlighted the need for increased humanitarian aid to Gaza while emphasizing Israel’s right to self-defense after the October 7, 2023, events. Additionally, she highlighted the urgency of the crisis in Sudan, mobilizing aid and personally assessing the humanitarian response during a trip to Chad. Amb. Thomas-Greenfield is widely regarded as a trailblazer in the foreign affairs community. When she joined the U.S. Foreign AFSA/JOAQUIN SOSA
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