Fireside Chat Speaker

Shelby V. Smith-Wilson '93
Career Development Officer, Foreign Service

Washington D.C. on March 29, 2007

Shelby has been in the Foreign Service for seven years and is currently a Career Development Officer (CDO) for more than 250 new Foreign Service hires.  In this capacity she assigns, counsels and mentors new Foreign Service Officers serving in their first and second tours.  She is also the position manager and liaison for the bureaus of Western Hemisphere Affairs (WHA) and African Affairs (AF) for all entry level positions in those regions.  Prior to being a CDO Shelby was a Watch Officer at the Operations Center, the Department’s 24-hour crisis monitoring center that directly supports the Secretary of State and other State Department principals.   As a Watch Officer Shelby monitored conversations between Secretary Rice (and former Secretary Powell) and their foreign counterparts, and monitored world events and crises. 

From 2002-2004, Shelby was assigned to a Consular/Political position at U.S. Embassy Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic where she supervised Foreign Service Nationals in the absence of the Non-Immigrant Visa Chief.  During her assignment to the political section Shelby was responsible for the human rights/labor/migration portfolio.  She wrote the Embassy’s Human Rights and Trafficking in Persons Reports and monitored treatment of Haitian migrants. 

From 2000-2002, Shelby was assigned to a Consular/Public Diplomacy position at U.S. Embassy Nairobi, Kenya.  While in Kenya Shelby coordinated outreach efforts to Kenyan students interested in pursuing educational opportunities in the U.S., coordinated speaker programs and conferences on HIV/AIDS, assisted with several congressional delegations and worked with the press during former Secretary Powell’s first visit to the continent as Secretary of State.   Shelby also represented the U.S. Government at various memorial ceremonies in the aftermath of September 11.

Shelby has been awarded the State Department’s Meritorious Honor and Superior Honor Awards for her performance.  She was selected as a Thomas Pickering Graduate Fellow in 1998 and entered the Foreign Service in 1999 following a summer internship at U.S. Embassy Caracas, Venezuela in the political section.   She has an M.A. in International Affairs from The George Washington University, and a B.A. in Political Science and Spanish from Duke University.  Shelby mentors several State Department Fellows and also tutors Spanish.  She is married to Vincent Wilson, who also works for the Department of State as a civil service employee

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