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Name: Bernicat, Marcia
Current Position: Former Ambassador
Marcia S. Bernicat serves as the US Ambassador to Senegal and Guinea-Bissau. She was confirmed by the Senate on June 5, 2008.
A native of New Jersey, Bernicat received a BA in history in 1975 from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvanis,.
She also earned a certificate to teach social science at the secondary school level in 1975, but instead of teaching she worked as a manager in the liquid cleaners department for Proctor & Gamble in N.Y. She was an intern at the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia, Liberia in 1979, and she received a MS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in 1980. She joined the Foreign Service in 1981.
Bernicat first served as political officer for the US Embassy in Bamako, Mali (1982-1984). Her later assignments included serving as consular officer at the US Consulate General in Marseille, France (1984-1986), as Operations Center watch officer (1986-1987), as special assistant to the Deputy Secretary of State (1987-1989), and as the Nepal Desk Officer (1989-1990).
Bernicat was deputy political counselor for the US Embassy in New Delhi, India (1992-1995). From 1995 to 1998, she was principal officer at the US Consulate General in Casablanca, Morocco, and from 1998-2001, she served as deputy chief of mission in Lilongwe, Malawi. Bernicat also served as deputy chief of mission in Bridgetown, Barbados, from 2001-2004.
She served as senior level division director in the Office of Career Development and Assignments, (2004-2006), and most recently was office director for India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Bhutan (2006-2008).
She speaks French, Hindi and Russian.