Frances Dee Cook (born September 7, 1945, Charleston, West Virginia) was a career Foreign Service Officer who was the US Ambassador to the Republic of Burundi from 1980–1983, Ambassador to the Republic of Cameroon, 1989–1993 and she was sworn in as the U.S. Ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman on December 28, 1995. As Ambassador to Oman and Consul General in Alexandria, Egypt, she was the first female chief of mission in the Persian Gulf, and the first female head of post in the Middle East for the United States. Cook heads her own international business consulting firm, The Ballard Group and is Managing Director of the Quincy Group, a strategic advisory firm and merchant bank.

Early life and education

Cook was born in Charleston, West Virginia to Nash and Vivian Cook but grew up in

Homestead, Florida Homestead is a city within Miami-Dade County in the U.S. state of Florida, between Biscayne National Park to the east and Everglades National Park to the west. The population was 80,737 as of the 2020 census. Homestead is primarily a Miami s ...

. She earned a BA from

Mary Washington College The University of Mary Washington (UMW) is a public liberal arts university in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Founded in 1908 as the Fredericksburg Teachers College, the institution was named Mary Washington College in 1938 after Mary Ball Washingt ...

of the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with College admission ...

in 1967. In 1978, she received a M.P.A. from the

John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public a ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

Career

After joining the Foreign Service in 1967 and completing language school, Cook’s first assignment was to be Special Assistant to

Sargent Shriver Robert Sargent Shriver Jr. (November 9, 1915 – January 18, 2011) was an American diplomat, politician, and activist. As the husband of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, he was part of the Kennedy family. Shriver was the driving force behind the creatio ...

, Ambassador to France from 1968–1969. Her future posts included being a member of the U.S. Delegation to Paris Peace Talks on Vietnam, 1970–1971; U.S. Consulate General,

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

, 1971–1973; U.S. Embassy,

Dakar, Senegal Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 20 ...

, 1973–1975; Personnel Officer for Africa, USIA, 1975–1977; Director of the Press Office, Bureau of African Affairs, Department of State, 1978–1980; Consul General,

Alexandria, Egypt Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

, 1983–1986; Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Assistance, Bureau of Refugee Programs, 1986–1987; Director, Office of West Africa Affairs, Department of State, 1987–1989; and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Regional Security Affairs, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, 1993–1995. From 2010–2020, Cook served as a member of the board of trustees at The American College of the Mediterranean (ACM), an American-style degree-granting institution in

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label=Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...

, France, which includes

IAU College IAU (IAU, French: Institut Américain Universitaire) is an American institution of higher learning located in southern France. Its main campus is in Aix-en-Provence, France, and offers satellite programs in Spain, Morocco, and the United Kingd ...

, a study abroad institute for undergraduates.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Frances 1945 births People from Charleston, West Virginia People from Homestead, Florida University of Mary Washington alumni Harvard Kennedy School alumni Ambassadors of the United States to Burundi Ambassadors of the United States to Cameroon Ambassadors of the United States to Oman American women ambassadors Living people American consuls 21st-century American women