Patricia R. Sheikh
Deputy Administrator
Capacity Building and Development
Patricia Sheikh is Deputy
Administrator for the Office of Capacity Building and Development in the
U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS).
From January-April 2009, Ms. Sheikh was Acting Deputy Under Secretary for
USDA’s Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services.
Ms. Sheikh was selected as
the Deputy Administrator for FAS’ Office of Capacity Building and
Development in November 2006. From June 1997-November 2006, Ms. Sheikh
served as Deputy Administrator for FAS’ International Trade Policy. Ms.
Sheikh is the architect of USDA’s Africa strategy, and was the key architect
of USDA’s North Asia trade policy strategy. She assumed her position as
Deputy Administrator after having distinguished herself by leading the
Department’s efforts to resolve trade policy issues for well over a decade.
In her new capacity, she is charged with overseeing all capacity building
endeavors, including those associated with food assistance, thereby
employing a "holistic approach" to development. Ms. Sheikh also coordinates
the U.S. government’s foreign policy objectives as they relates to capacity
building endeavors. Her extensive work in agricultural affairs puts her in
the unique position of employing her vast working experience to tackle the
complex problems associated with food security.
Her work experience also includes serving as Director of FAS’ Trade
Policy Division for the Asia and Americas from 1993-1997. From 1989-1993,
she led the Cotton Analysis Section of FAS’ former Tobacco, Cotton, and
Seeds Division, focusing on China.
Ms. Sheikh worked as an agricultural economist in FAS’ former Foreign
Production Estimates Division from 1983-1989, after having worked as an
agricultural economist in its Grain and Feed Division from 1978-1983. From
1977-1978, she was an international economist in the U.S. Department of
Labor’s Office of Foreign and Economic Policy.
A native of Maryland, Ms. Sheikh holds a Bachelor’s degree in history and
political science with a minor in economics from the College of Notre Dame
of Maryland in Baltimore and a Master’s degree in international relations
from the School of Advanced International Relations in Washington, DC, at
Johns Hopkins University.
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