President Trump to nominate Indian-American as Ambassador

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President Trump announced he would be nominating an Indian-American in his administration as ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD.

Manisha Singh, of Florida, will have the rank of Ambassador if she is confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Singh is currently the Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs at the State Department.

She was unanimously confirmed by the Senate as Assistant Secretary of State in November 2017. She is the first woman appointed to the role and is responsible for advancing American prosperity, entrepreneurship and innovation worldwide, the State Department says on its website.

She has been leading a team of more than 200 employees in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs which also serves as the home bureau for economic officers posted in embassies around the world.

Her responsibilities have sanctions and trade policy, international finance, cyber-security, emerging technologies, foreign investment and aviation negotiations. Her focus has included promoting American technology through a series of innovation round-tables and developing an initiative focused on women’s economic empowerment– Providing Opportunities for Women’s Economic Rise (POWER), the State Department notes.

She received the Distinguished Travel Champion Award in 2019 from the U.S. Travel Association for promoting travel-friendly policies.

Singh previously served as the Acting Under Secretary of Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment and as a Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Economic, Energy and Business Affairs at the State Department.

She also previously served as Deputy Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.  She was also the Senior Fellow for International Economic Affairs at the American Foreign Policy Council and was a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Singh’s private sector experience includes practicing law at multinational law firms and working in-house at an investment bank.  She earned an LL.M. in International Legal Studies from the American University Washington College of Law, a J.D. from the University of Florida College of Law, and a B.A. from the University of Miami.  In addition, she studied at the University of Leiden Law School in the Netherlands.