One woman who does not only set standards but also abides by standards as a matter of exemplary leadership and integrity of character is Mary Beth Leonard, the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria. She is also an embodiment of beauty and brain.
The vivacious and elegant woman is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor.
From 2016-2019, she was the Representative of the United States of America to the African Union, with the rank and status of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, serving concurrently as U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).
She was previously the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Mali from 2011-2014. Her service in Mali was recognized with the Department’s Diplomacy for Human Rights Award in 2013, an honor that annually recognizes a U.S. Chief of Mission who has demonstrated extraordinary commitment to defending human rights and advancing democratic principles in his or her host country.
Ambassador Leonard served as the State Department’s Senior Faculty Advisor at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, following a year as the Department’s Diplomat in Residence for New England, based at Tufts University. Ambassador Leonard was the Director for West African Affairs at the U.S. Department of State from 2009-2011, and Deputy Chief of Mission in Bamako, Mali from 2006-2009.
After joining the State Department in 1988, Ambassador Leonard served overseas as an economic and consular officer in Yaoundé, Cameroon; Windhoek, Namibia; and Lomé, Togo. She also worked in the Department’s Operations Center and in its Office of Central African Affairs. She served as political and economic officer in Cape Town, South Africa and thereafter as Deputy Chief of Mission in Paramaribo, Suriname.
Ambassador Leonard doesn’t strike you at the first sight, then possibly, she is a master piece of a woman disguised as a blank canvas, she affects a flurry of beings as it regards protecting human rights. She is a product of pure intellect and a visionary leader. A native of Massachusetts, graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. from Boston University, with a major in economics and a minor in French. In 1988, she earned a master’s degree in international relations, with an emphasis on African studies, from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. In 2004, she received a Master of Security and Strategic studies from the U.S. Naval War College, with distinction. She speaks French, Spanish, Afrikaans, and Dutch.
