Ambassador biography

Ambassador Jeanine Jackson

Jeanine Jackson, a native of Wyoming, was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to Burkina Faso on March 15, 2006.  She is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service and recently retired as a Colonel in the US Army Reserve.  She has served as a diplomat in Switzerland, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Kenya and Afghanistan. 

Ms. Jackson has been a key player in activities related to creating, adapting, rebuilding and reopening different US Embassies:

As Post Management Officer for the Soviet Union at the time of its dissolution, she then managed from Washington the establishment of US Embassies in the 14 new countries left in its wake.  In Hong Kong she established programs to protect the interests of all US Government civilian, military, and local employees at the time of the British Colony’s reversion to Chinese sovereignty.  In Kenya following the Al Qaeda bombing, she served as Supervisory General Services Officer of the largest Embassy in Africa and was key to reestablishing its operations and infrastructure.  In Afghanistan in 2001, she led the team that reopened the US Embassy and then served as Deputy Chief of Mission.  She later returned to Kabul to serve as the Embassy’s Management Counselor. Most recently, she was the Management Coordinator responsible for reestablishing the US Embassy in Baghdad. 

Prior to entering the Foreign Service, Ms. Jackson worked in Saigon as a civil service employee at the Defense Attaché Office.  She later served ten years as an active duty Army officer, primarily in Germany and Korea. 

Ambassador Jackson earned a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and a Bachelor’s Degree in Art Education.  Her husband Mark is a retired Senior Foreign Service Officer and also retired as a Colonel in the US Army Reserve.

Enamored of Africa’s cultures, the Jacksons have traveled 10,000 miles overland on the African continent.