Michele J. Sison


Michele Jeanne Sison is an American diplomat and career member of the Senior Foreign Service currently serving as the United States Ambassador to Haiti. She has previously served in various other diplomatic posts around the world on behalf of the United States.

Early education and personal life

Sison earned her B.A. in political science from Wellesley College and also studied at the London School of Economics. She has two daughters.

Career

Sison's overseas assignments have included service as Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d'Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan and as consul General at the U.S. Consulate General in Chennai, India. She also served at the U.S. Missions in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire ; Douala, Cameroon ; Cotonou, Benin ; Lomé, Togo ; and Port-au-Prince, Haiti, as well as in Washington. Ambassador Sison is the recipient of numerous U.S. Department of State awards for exceptional service.
She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as United States Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates on May 6, 2004, and sworn in by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on July 12, 2004. Prior to her appointment to the UAE, she served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of South Asian Affairs, charged with providing broad policy oversight of U.S. relations with Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.
She also had a short stint as the U.S. Chargés d'affaires a.i. in Lebanon, before her Senate confirmation as U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon on August 1, 2008. Sison's assignment in Lebanon ended in August 2010.
She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 29, 2012, as U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
On July 8, 2014, President Barack Obama announced the nomination of Sison as Deputy Representative of the United States to the United Nations, with the rank of Ambassador, and Deputy Representative of the United States in the Security Council of the United Nations. She was confirmed by the Senate in a voice vote on November 19, 2014.
On November 2, 2017, she was confirmed by the Senate to serve as the United States Ambassador to Haiti, having been nominated by U.S. President Donald Trump. Among the major issues facing her in her new role will be navigating a response by the United Nations to victims of a cholera epidemic the organization started in October 2010. She will also be confronted with the U.S. government's pending decision on whether or not to extend Temporary Protected Status to Haitian immigrants who were in the U.S. at the time of the massive earthquake in Port-au-Prince in January 2010.