Ambassador R. Barrie Walkley

Associate

 

Ambassador Barrie Walkley has over thirty years experience in the nexus between government and the private sector, between domestic and foreign policy.  Throughout his career, he has worked to advance the interests of the U.S. private sector and American business.  He has worked closely with U.S. and foreign militaries, as well as with American and international development agencies.

 

Appointed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, he served until 2013 as the U.S. Special Advisor for Africa’s Great Lakes Region and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, coordinating U.S. policy on regional issues, including security sector reform and the implications for American business of “conflict minerals” legislation.

 

During 2010-2011, Ambassador Walkley was the senior U.S. official in Southern Sudan, assisting Southern Sudan’s mandate on self-determination and the emergence of South Sudan as the world’s newest country.  He directed the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Juba on July 9, 2011.

 

Nominated by President George W. Bush, he served as Ambassador to the Gabonese Republic (2004-2007), accredited concurrently as Ambassador to the Republic of Sao Tome and Principe.   Previously, he was Ambassador to the Republic of Guinea (2001-2004).  He served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (1998-2001). 

 

In addition to assignments at the State Department in Washington, D.C., Ambassador Walkley served in Yaounde (Cameroon), Lahore (Pakistan), Pretoria (South Africa), Islamabad (Pakistan), London (UK) and Port Louis (Mauritius).  In 1993, during the international intervention in Somalia (“Operation Restore Hope”), he was seconded to the United Nations and sent to Somalia, where he served as the U.N. Spokesman in Mogadishu.

 

Ambassador Walkley holds a BA from the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), an MA from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and an MA from the University of Southern California (USC).

 

He is the recipient of two U.S. Presidential Awards, as well as numerous State Department Superior Honor and other awards.  He and his wife, Annabelle, were Peace Corps Volunteers for two years in Somalia.