Linda Etim

WCAPS Advisory Council Member

Linda Etim has held positions focused on mitigating conflict and promoting international development throughout her career.  Most recently, Ms. Etim served as the head of the Africa Bureau at the U.S Agency for International Development (USAID) from 2015-January 2017.  In that capacity, she was responsible for more than $7 billion of assistance funding to 46 countries in Africa as well as over 1,000 staff.  While at USAID (including as Deputy Assistant Administrator from 2012-20150, Ms. Etim oversaw efforts for stabilizing fragile states and promoting transformational development through the full range of foreign assistance programming.  This included peace and security, democracy, good governance, health systems strengthening, including Ebola response, economic integration, education and humanitarian assistance.

From 2009-2012, Ms. Etim served was the Director for African Affairs on the White House National Security Council.  There, she was charged with coordinating the U.S responses to some of the African continent’s most pressing challenges, including countering rising levels of violent extremism, the Somalia famine response, developing a meaningful response to Africa’s youth bulge, and the continent’s uneven record of democratic governance.  Prior to that, Ms. Etim spent over a decade as a specialist in African security affairs for the Department of Defense and the intelligence community.

Ms. Etim received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in International Relations, French, and Portuguese with concentrations in Agricultural Economics and African Studies. She received a certificate in International Affairs from Sciences-Po Paris and studied land reform at the Universidade de Sao Paulo in Brazil. She has served on the Board of Directors for the U.S Africa Development Foundation (USADF) and the Young African Leaders Initiative.

This month Linda Etim will begin a new role as the Senior Advisor on Africa Policy for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation where she will support the foundation's work on advocacy, strategy, and communications.