Mary Carlin Yates (born 1946,

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

) was a

Foreign Service Officer A Foreign Service officer (FSO) is a commissioned member of the United States Foreign Service. FSOs formulate and implement the foreign policy of the United States. They spend most of their careers overseas as members of U.S. embassies, cons ...

at the

U.S. State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs ...

and was one of two deputy commanders of the

United States Africa Command The United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM, U.S. AFRICOM, and AFRICOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the United States Department of Defense, headquartered at Kelley Barracks, Stuttgart, Germany. It is responsible for ...

until June 2009. Yates retired in September 2011 after 31 years. Her two final assignments were as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council (NSC) of the White House from January 2011- August 2011 and as the Senior Advisor for Strategic Planning and Special Assistant to the President from June 2009 – December 2010. Despite her retirement, she served as Chargé d'Affaires in Khartoum, Sudan through February 2012. Yates earned her BA in English from

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...

and earned a Master's in Comparative East West Humanities from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

, where she pursued her doctoral studies in Asian Affairs. She served as U.S. Ambassador to the

Republic of Burundi Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is located in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa, with a population of over 14 million peop ...

from 1999 until June 2002, and as U.S. Ambassador to the

Republic of Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

from November 2002 to 2005. Yates was named on September 28, 2008, as the Deputy to the Commander for Civil-Military Activities,

(USAFRICOM), headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany where she served most recently as the Principal Advisor to the Commander,

United States European Command The United States European Command (EUCOM) is one of the eleven Unified Combatant Command, unified combatant commands of the United States military, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. Its area of focus covers and 51 countries and territori ...

(USEUCOM). She has earned two State Department Superior Honor Awards and two Meritorious Honor Awards. Her husband, John M. Yates, is U.S. Special Envoy to

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

. She currently sits on the Board of Directors of the
Atlantic Council

References

External links

Profile
africom.mil. Accessed March 8, 2024.

1946 births Living people Oregon State University alumni Ambassadors of the United States to Burundi Ambassadors of the United States to Ghana United States Foreign Service personnel New York University alumni American women ambassadors United States National Security Council staffers Ambassadors of the United States to Sudan Date of birth missing (living people) {{US-diplomat-stub