View Header

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary


For Immediate Release March 5, 1998
            PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES SHIRLEY ELIZABETH BARNES 
            AS U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE REPUBLIC OF MADAGASCAR

The President today announced his intent to nominate Shirley Elizabeth Barnes, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, to be U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Madagascar.

Ms. Shirley Elizabeth Barnes, of New York, New York, is presently the Director of Western European Affairs in the Bureau of European and Canadian Affairs. In her Foreign Service career, Ms. Barnes has served in Cairo, Dakar, West Berlin and Sofia. Her most recent overseas assignment was as Consul General in Strasbourg, France. Ms. Barnes has also worked in the State Department's Office of Management Policy and Programming. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Ms. Barnes held positions in private industry and with non-profit foundations. She worked for the Ford Foundation in the Republic of Congo-Kinshasa in the early sixties, with the African-American Institute in New York City, and reached the level of vice-president in several major advertising agencies in New York.

Ms. Barnes holds a B.B.A. from Baruch College, City University of New York, and an M.B.A. from Columbia University. She graduated from the National War College, at Fort McNair, and was a member of the Senior Seminar Class of 1995, the U.S. government's most distinguished senior level training program. Ms. Barnes speaks French.

-30-30-30-