Biden appoints Fil-Am as acting administrator of USAID

Gloria Steele, appointed as acting administrator of USAID INQUIRER file photo

MANILA, Philippines — US President Joe Biden has appointed Filipino-American Gloria Steele as acting administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Biden appointed Steele for the position on January 20, according to USAID’s website, which described Steele as a “distinguished career member of the U.S. Government’s Senior Executive Service for over 18 years.”

USAID is an organization that works on international development and humanitarian efforts.

Before retiring from the Federal service, Steele served as acting assistant administrator and senior deputy assistant administrator for USAID’s Bureau for Asia from 2015 to 2020, according to her profile in USAID’s website.

Prior to these posts, she also served as USAID’s mission director for the Philippines, the Pacific Islands, and Mongolia, from 2010-2015, and as senior deputy assistant administrator of the Bureau for Global Health in 2005.

Aside from these assignments, she was also senior deputy assistant administrator of the Bureau for Europe and Eurasia from 2001 to 2004.

“She also worked for seven years in the Bureau for Africa as an agricultural economist, and seven years in the Bureau for Science and Technology, overseeing applied research on key rural development issues such as land tenure, access to agricultural credit, food security, and natural resource management,” USAID said.

According to the organization, Steele served for one year in the Bureau for Policy and Program Coordination, where she led the development of USAID’s first food security policy.

USAID also said that Steele served as a management consultant to the Philippines’ Secretary of Agriculture, and taught Business Economics at Letran Graduate School for Business in Manila in the early days of her career.

She also received a master’s degree in Agricultural Economics from Kansas State University, and a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Maryknoll College in the Philippines.

According to USAID, her awards include a Presidential Meritorious Executive Award in 2007, Presidential Distinguished Executive Awards in 2008 and 2018, and the Order of Sikatuna award from the President of the Philippines in 2015.

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