Cheryl Anderson is the Acting Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Africa. She joined the Bureau as Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator in October 2016.  Before joining the Africa Bureau, she served as the Mission Director for USAID/Southern Africa from August 2013, and prior to that, she was Mission Director in Ghana and the East Africa Regional Mission.

Ms. Anderson has over 20 years of development experience, mostly in Africa. Her experience in Africa began in Ghana as a Peace Corps volunteer. Since joining USAID as a Foreign Service Officer in 1988, she has worked in USAID missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Sudan, and East Africa. She served as the deputy director in the East Asia Office in USAID headquarters in Washington DC. Before her career at USAID, she worked as a program manager for Healthlink Worldwide, a UK-based non-governmental organization.

Ms. Anderson received a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations from Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, and a Master’s of Science in International Development Management from American University in Washington, DC.