WASHINGTON, D.C. - Denise A. Herbol was sworn in today as the U.S. Agency for International Development's Jamaica Mission Director. A career Senior Foreign Service Officer, Herbol leaves her post as Senior Deputy Mission Director for USAID's mission in Islamabad, Pakistan where she helped manage a staff of more than 240 employees since September 2010.

After joining USAID in 1987, Herbol worked in some of the agency's most challenging missions. From 2008 to 2010, she was Mission Director for USAID/Lebanon. She was Deputy Mission Director for USAID/Iraq from August 2007 to September 2008.

Earlier in her career, she took on increasingly challenging roles in the Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Ghana, Belize, Albania, Uganda and Ukraine.

This new post is not Herbol's first in the Western Hemisphere. In addition to serving in Belize from 1992 to 1994, she was Supervisory Executive Officer to USAID's Mission in Colombia from 2004 to 2007.

In Jamaica, Herbol will oversee programs that impact economic growth, education, democracy, and anti-corruption; including USAID's component of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, which helps Jamaica and other Caribbean countries empower at-risk youth, stimulate economic development, improve education and skills development and fight corruption.

At her swearing in ceremony today, Herbol discussed her commitment to sustainable development and the potential benefits for both Jamaica and the United States. "We must use each available dollar in the most effective way possible to achieve shared goals and strengthen the ability of Jamaicans to achieve their own development," she said. "The measure of our success will be how well we will have invested our human and financial resources to achieve our shared goals."

Herbol earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh. She attended the Federal Executive Institute Executive Leadership Program in 2002. In January 2007, Herbol was the first USAID employee to participate in the National Security Decision Making Workshop held at the U.S. Air War College in Montgomery, Alabama. She has received numerous awards from USAID and the U.S. Department of State for exceptional service.

Herbol was born in Erie, Pennsylvania and raised in nearby Fairview. She has three children.

For more information about USAID programs, visit www.usaid.gov.