THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts)
PRESIDENT NAMES BRENDA BROWN SCHOONOVER AS
AMBASSADOR TO TOGO
The President announced today his intent to nominate Brenda Brown Schoonover, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Counselor, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Togo.
Ms. Schoonover, of Maryland, began her overseas service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in 1961 in the Philippines with one of the first groups to go abroad at the inception of the Peace Corps. She later served in the Peace Corps' Office of Talent Search, then as Associate Director of the Peace Corps in Tanzania, followed by an appointment as Director of the agency's School Partnership Program. In the mid-seventies, Ms. Schoonover worked for the Government of Arlington County, Virginia, as the county's Affirmative Action Officer for two years.
Ms. Schoonover has been with the Department of State for 20 years in a variety of administrative positions in Manila, the Philippines, Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, and at the Bureau of Near East and South Asia. From 1988 to 1991, she was the Chief of Personnel for the Bureau of European and Canadian Affairs. Her last overseas assignment was Administrative Officer/Deputy Director for the Office of Joint Administrative Services, U.S. Embassy, Brussels. She has just completed the Senior Seminar, the State Department's advanced professional development program for senior foreign policy and national security officers of the United States Government.
Ms. Schoonover has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Morgan State University in Baltimore and did graduate studies at Howard University, Washington, DC, in connection with participation in the Cardozo High School Urban Teaching Program, which focused on inner city school curriculum development. Ms. Schoonover speaks French.