Ambassador
Ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley
Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Malta on Wednesday, April 18, 2012, and presented her credentials to H.E. Dr. George Abela, President of Malta, on Wednesday, May 2, 2012.
Ms. Abercrombie-Winstanley, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor, joined the Foreign Service in 1985 and served as Consul in Baghdad, before being posted to Jakarta and Cairo. She then served as Special Assistant for Middle Eastern and African Affairs to Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger.
After a year of advanced Arabic, she served as Political Officer in Tel Aviv with responsibility for the Gaza Strip. Before assuming her most recent position as Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism she was posted as Director of the Office of Egypt and the Levant where she handled the countries of Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, and Jordan, and served as Chairwoman for Middle East Area Studies at the Foreign Service Institute--the premier training facility for U.S. Diplomats; as Consul General in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Policy Advisor to the Director of the Near East–South Asia Center for Strategic Studies at the Department of Defense; Senior Advisor for Middle Eastern Affairs at USUN; Director for Near East South Asian Affairs with responsibility for the Arabian Peninsula at the National Security Council of the White House; and Director for Legislative Affairs, also at the NSC.
Prior to that, she was awarded a Pearson fellowship and worked on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for the Ranking Member, Senator Joseph Biden.
Ms. Abercrombie-Winstanley is the recipient of Senior Performance Pay, Meritorious and Superior Honor Awards, including "For acts of courage during an attack on the U.S. Consulate General, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on December 6, 2004 by al-Qa'ida terrorists."
Ms. Abercrombie-Winstanley has a Bachelors degree from George Washington University and a Masters degree from Johns Hopkins University and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She served on the Boards of the International Career Advancement Association and the Forum for Education Abroad.