Patricia Sheikh was selected as the Deputy Administrator for Capacity Building and Development in November 2006. This office is responsible for carrying out activities that are in line with international economic development goals. OCBD will operate trade, science, and regulatory capacity building projects, including training and technical assistance programs. The group will also support USDA’s post-conflict, post-disaster reconstruction efforts.

Prior to this assignment, Sheikh was Deputy Administrator for International Trade Policy.

From February 1997 until her selection, Ms. Sheikh was the Acting Deputy Administrator for International Trade Policy for FAS. She served as Director of the agency’s Trade Policy Division for the Asia and Americas from 1993–97. From 1989-93, she was the group leader for the Cotton Analysis Section of FAS’s former Tobacco, Cotton and Seeds Division, focusing on China.

Ms. Sheikh worked as an agricultural economist in the agency’s former Foreign Production Estimates Division from 1983-89, after having worked as an agricultural economist in its Grain and Feed Division from 1978-83. From 1977-78, she was an international economist in the Office of Foreign and Economic Policy in the U.S. Department of Labor.

A native of Maryland, Ms. Sheikh holds a B.A. degree in history and political sciences from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland in Baltimore and an M.A. degree in international relations from the School of Advanced International Relations in Washington, DC, at Johns Hopkins University.

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