Sharon Wilkinson was born in New York City in 1947. She received her BA in International Relations from
Brown University and Master of Arts in Teaching from the
University of Chicago. She began her career in the Foreign service as vice consul in
Sao Paulo, Brazil, and later as consul in
Accra, Ghana. She served as a program officer for Africa in the Bureau of Cultural Affairs in Washington D.C., as well as staff assistant to the assistant secretary for Inter-American Affairs. She also served in
Lisbon, Portugal, and as a management analyst for the Office of Management Operations. She spent one year as director of the Face-To-Face Program at the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She was assigned as deputy principal officer in
Tijuana, Mexico. She directed the Office of Diplomatic and Public Liaison in the Bureau of Consular Affairs in Washington, followed by an assignment as consul general in
Curaçao. She then departed for Lisbon again, where she served as chargée d'affaires before completing her tour as deputy chief of mission. In 1995, President
Bill Clinton nominated her as the U.S. ambassador to Burkina Faso. In 2000, she was nominated again by Clinton as ambassador to Mozambique. Prior to this, she was the Assistant Dean for Global Engagement at
Arizona State University. She speaks Portuguese, Spanish and French as foreign languages, and is a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister Counselor. ==References==