Ms. Lisa A. Johnson assumed her duties as Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Nassau, The Bahamas on July 9, 2014. Previously, Ms. Johnson was Director of the Office of Africa and the Middle East in the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. Prior to that, she served in the Office of the Vice President as Senior Advisor for South and Central Asia. Earlier assignments included Deputy Director of the State Department’s Office of Canadian Affairs and Director for Middle East Affairs at the National Security Council. She has been posted overseas at U.S. Embassies in Beirut, Islamabad, Luanda, and Pretoria, and was seconded to the Private Office of the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels. Ms. Johnson has received the State Department’s Superior Honor Award and Meritorious Honor Award four times each.
Ms. Johnson graduated from Stanford University with an A.B. degree in Political Science and Economics. She has a Master of International Affairs degree from Columbia University and an M.S. degree in National Security Strategy from the National War College. Her hobbies include hiking, golf, and stand-up paddle boarding. She also enjoys fine food and wine.
Ms. Neda Brown assumed her role as the Embassy’s Acting Deputy Chief of Mission on July 7, 2014. Ms. Brown joined the U.S. diplomatic corps in 2003 and has served as a media relations officer at the Foreign Press Center in New York City, under President Obama at the White House Situation Room, and at the State Department’s Operations Center where she provided 24-hour support to former Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton. Ms. Brown has also served overseas at the U.S. Embassies in Bogotá, Colombia and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and she completed temporary assignments in Mumbai, India and Santiago, Chile.