Annual Meeting 2004
The 40th Annual Meeting of
The Association for International Agriculture 
and Rural Development

"Progress in International Agriculture and Rural Development"
Speakers and Panelists

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Ambassador Shaun Donnelly
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary
Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs
U.S. Department of State
Shaun Donnelly has been the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs since March 2001. Mr. Donnelly is the third-ranking economic policy official in the Department of State. He is directly responsible for all aspects of international trade policy and programs at the Department of State.

From September 2000 through February 2001, Shaun Donnelly was Special Negotiator for agricultural biotechnology in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs. From 1997 until August 2000, he served as United States Ambassador to Sri Lanka. From the U.S. Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka, he served concurrently as non-resident U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Maldives.

Mr. Donnelly has had a distinguished career in the Foreign Service of the U.S. Department of State, concentrating on economic and commercial issues. In 1996 and 1997 he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Trade Policy and Programs in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs. In 1994 and 1995, Mr. Donnelly served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in

 charge of International Energy, Sanctions, and Commodities. He represented the U.S. at Governing Board meetings of the International Energy Agency and was elected chairman of the IEA's Standing Group on Long-Term Cooperation.

Shaun Donnelly has been a Foreign Service Officer serving in Washington and abroad since 1972. Early in his career he served as an Economic/Commercial Officer in U.S. Embassies in Senegal, Ethiopia, and Egypt and as a Financial Economist in Washington. In 1977-78 he worked at Cummins Engine Company in Indiana under the auspices of the President's Executive Interchange Program. In Washington he served as Director of the State Department's Office of Development Finance (1985-88) and the Office of European Union and Regional Affairs (1992-94). He was Deputy Chief of Mission (number two official) at the U.S. Embassies in Mali (1983-85) and Tunisia (1989-92).

Shaun Donnelly was born and raised in Culver, Indiana, which he still considers home. He graduated from Culver Military Academy in 1964. He earned a B.A. in Economics from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin in 1968 and an M.A. in Economics from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois in 1971. He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tunisia 1968-70. French is his foreign language. He and his wife Susan Buesing Donnelly have two sons Alex and Eric.