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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary


For Immediate Release March 19, 1996

PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES AMBASSADOR TO BURKINA FASO

The President today announced his intent to nominate Sharon P. Wilkinson of New York, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Counselor, as ambassador to Burkina Faso.

Wilkinson, who is currently serving as deputy chief of mission at the American Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal, began her career as vice consul in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She was then assigned as consul in Accra, Ghana. Returning to Washington, she served as program officer for Africa in the (then) Bureau of Cultural Affairs, staff assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Inter-American Affairs, desk officer for Portugal, and management analyst for the Office of Management Operations. She also spent one year as director of the Face-To-Face Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Next, she was assigned as deputy principal officer in Tijuana, Mexico. She returned to Washington to direct the Office of Diplomatic and Public Liaison in the Bureau of Consular Affairs, then was assigned consul general in Curacao. She participated as a member of the 35th Senior Seminar Class before departing for her present assignment.

Wilkinson, who is single, was born in Buffalo, N.Y., on Jan. 26, 1947. She was educated at Brown University and the University of Chicago. She speaks Portuguese and Spanish.