J. Anthony Holmes was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Burkina Faso on October 23, 2002.
He was Director of the Africa Bureau’s Economic and Policy Office from 1999 to 2002, where he worked on a wide array of economic and global issues, including helping the U.S. Government and Africa come to grips with the devastating HIV/AIDS pandemic; implementing the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act; tailoring U.S. assistance efforts to take advantage of changing circumstances in both Washington and in Africa; and working on Africa debt policy. He spent almost half of his career on African issues, also serving as the Economic/Commercial Section Chief in Harare (1991-1995) and in the economic section in Nairobi (1984-1988).
Ambassador Holmes has spent the other half of his career as an Economic and, occasionally, Commercial Officer in Egypt (1980-1982) and in Syria (1982-1984); he headed the economic sections in Singapore (1988-1991) and in Sweden (1996-1999); and was Deputy Director of the Office of Sanctions Policy in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs (1995-1996).
Mr. Holmes has a B.A. in Comparative Religion and an M.A. in Economic Geography from the University of Georgia, as well as an M.B.A. in International Management from The Thunderbird School. He and his wife have two sons.
