Lisa A. Johnson served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Namibia from January 2018 until July 2021. She previously was Chargé d’Affaires at U.S. Embassy Nassau, The Bahamas from 2014-2017.
Ambassador Johnson is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor. She was Director of the Office of Africa and the Middle East in the Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs from 2012-2014. She served as Senior Advisor for South and Central Asia in the Office of the Vice President from 2011-2012.
Other Washington, D.C. assignments include National Security Council Director for Middle East Affairs and in the State Department as Deputy Director in the Office of Canadian Affairs, Political-Military Officer for Israel in the Near East Affairs Bureau, and Watch Officer in the Operations Center. Overseas diplomatic postings include U.S. Embassies Luanda, Pretoria, Beirut, and Islamabad, as well as a secondment to the Office of the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels.
Ambassador Johnson joined the Foreign Service in 1992 after serving as a Presidential Management Fellow with the Department of the Navy from 1991-1992. She graduated from Stanford University with an A.B. degree in Political Science and Economics and from Columbia University with a Master of International Affairs degree. She obtained an M.S. degree in National Security Strategy from the National War College, Class of 2010.