Nomination of Cynthia Shepard Perry To Be United States Ambassador to Sierra Leone

The President today announced his intention to nominate Cynthia Shepard Perry to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Sierra Leone. She would succeed Arthur Winston Lewis.

Mrs. Perry began her career in 1957 as a secretary with Nichols Investment Corp. in Terre Haute, IN. In 1962 she went with IBM Corp. where she worked until 1967 as a secretary in Terre Haute and then educational representative, Ohio region of the IBM office products division in Indianapolis. From 1968 to 1971, she was director of the National Teacher Corps at the University of Massachusetts School of Education and a doctoral student. In 1971 she became an associate professor of education and associate director of Teacher Corps/Peace Corps, Texas Southern University, in Houston until 1974. From 1974 to 1976, Mrs. Perry was an in-country Peace Corps trainer, Kenya (consultant); lecturer in philosophy at the University of Nairobi; United States Information Service consultant in Kenya, Nigeria, and Zambia. In 1976 she was staff trainer at the United Nations Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and in 1978 became dean of international student affairs and professor of education at Texas Southern University in Houston, TX. From 1982 to present, Mrs. Perry has been Chief, Education and Human Resources Division, Office of Technical Resources, Africa Bureau, Agency for International Development.

Mrs. Perry was born November 11, 1928, in Terre Haute, IN. She received her B.S. in 1968 from Indiana State University and her Ed.D. in 1972 from the University of Massachusetts. Her foreign languages are Spanish and Swahili. Mrs. Perry is married to James Olden Perry, Sr. They have six children and reside in Washington, DC.