From Director Nilsestuen

Wayne R. Nilsestuen was sworn on July 19, 2006, as Director for the U.S. Agency for International (USAID) Mission in Guatemala, Central America. The ceremony was held at USAID headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Nilsestuen is coming from Paraguay where he served as USAID Mission Director since August 2002. Under his guidance, USAID/Paraguay helped the Government of Paraguay to design a $35 million corruption control program, the largest Threshold Program approved to date by the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and a debt for nature swap under authorities granted by the Tropical Forest Conservation Act.

Prior to his assignment in Paraguay, Mr. Nilsestuen served as Deputy Mission Director in USAID/Bolivia (1998-2002) and USAID/Honduras (1995-1998) and Director of the Office of Regional Sustainable Development in the Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean in USAID/Washington (1994-1995).

Mr. Nilsestuen joined USAID in 1973 as an International Development Intern (IDI) and began his career in USAID as an agricultural economist assigned to Pakistan. Since then he has served with USAID in positions of increasing responsibility for development and humanitarian assistance in Africa and Latin America including Senegal, El Salvador, Honduras, Bolivia, and Paraguay.

Before joining USAID, Mr. Nilsestuen served a Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone, West Africa (1968-1970) where he started a vocational agricultural program at a boys' secondary school.

Mr. Nilsestuen hails from Wisconsin where he grew up on a dairy and poultry farm. He holds two Masters' degrees from the University of Wisconsin, one in Agricultural Economics and a second in Development Economics/Public Administration.

The following are speeches, talking points, and publicity from the outreach events in which the USAID/Guatemala Director participates. To read more about these, click on the following links.