Sharon P. Wilkonson is an American diplomat. She served as United States Ambassidor to Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated...

 from 1996-1999 and United States Ambassidor to Mozambique

Mozambique

Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...

 from 2000-2003.

Biography

Sharon Wilkonson was born in New York in 1947. She received her BA in International Relations from Brown University

Brown University

Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

 and Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

. 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 Curacao

Curaçao

Curaçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands...

. She then departed for Lisbon again, where she served as charge d'affairs 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.

Wilkinson currently serves as Meridian International Center’s Senior Vice President and Deputy. Prior to this, she was the Assistant Dean for Global Engagement at Arizona State University

Arizona State University

Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...

. She speaks Portuguese, Spanish and French as foreign languages, and is a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister Counselor.