Enoh T. Ebong

Enoh T. Ebong is the Director of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. Nominated by President Biden to serve as USTDA’s Director, she was confirmed by unanimous consent of the U.S. Senate. As Director, Ms. Ebong leads USTDA in its efforts to develop sustainable, clean infrastructure and foster economic growth in emerging economies, while also supporting U.S. jobs through the exports of U.S. goods and services.

Ms. Ebong assumed the helm at USTDA after starting her public service at the Agency and rising through the ranks in several roles as a career civil servant, including as General Counsel and as Deputy Director/Chief Operating Officer. As Deputy Director, she led the development and execution of USTDA’s international program and oversaw all agency operations.

In March 2023, President Biden appointed Ms. Ebong as a Federal government member to serve on the Board of Trustees of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Ms. Ebong’s professional experience includes time in the nonprofit sector, where she served as the Head of Strategic Partnerships at the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream, with responsibility for driving the development of strategic partnerships to expand access to education, health, financial empowerment and entrepreneurship.

Before joining USTDA, she practiced law at the Boston office of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. representing public and private companies in offerings, financing transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate governance issues.

Ms. Ebong has served on the Boards of the Friends of the National Zoo and the Washington Foreign Law Society. She has also served as an Advisory Board member of Lawyers of Color, which named her to its 4th Annual Power List in 2015; and as a Global Faculty Lead for Atlas Service Corps’ Global Leadership Lab.

Ms. Ebong earned her JD from the University of Michigan Law School, a Master of Arts in Communication from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, and a Master of Arts in History, with honors, from The University of Edinburgh, Scotland. She is a member of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Bar.

Follow the official USTDA Director Twitter Page.

Heather K. Lanigan

Heather Lanigan is the Regional Director for Sub-Saharan Africa at the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), where she is responsible for developing the agency’s strategies, assistance activities, and innovative partnerships throughout the region. In addition to her regional responsibilities, she also leads USTDA’s Global Telecommunications Sector Team.

In her tenure at USTDA, Ms. Lanigan previously served as the Country Manager for the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and Eurasia, and for South Asia, and was responsible for implementing project preparation activities that catalyzed energy, transportation and telecommunications infrastructure projects in over 20 countries.

Ms. Lanigan also served as the Economic Transition Coordinator for the U.S. Department of State’s policy and programming assistance in Egypt, Libya, Syria and Tunisia.Ms. Lanigan holds a Master of Arts degree in Global Finance Trade and Economic Integration from the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Spanish from St. Lawrence University.

Elizabeth Rosa

Elizabeth Rosa is the Events Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa at the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.Prior to joining USTDA, Elizabeth served as the Special Events Coordinator at the U.S. Capitol. While there, she was instrumental in executing over 1000 Congressional events, including the 2021 Presidential Inauguration, the 117th Congress New Member Orientation, and several House and Senate Committee Hearings.

Before her work at the Capitol, Elizabeth was a senior project manager with a small business federal contractor, where she managed events, trainings and conferences for multiple agencies, including the Executive Office of the President. The events ranged in size from 25 to 5000 attendees and were held in different locations across the nation.

Elizabeth speaks Spanish and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biological Sciences from Florida State University. She also holds certificates in Events Management from George Washington University and in Data Analytics from Harvard Business School.

Sarah Whitten

Sarah Whitten is the Regional Finance and Implementation Manager at the U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA), the United States government’s project preparation agency. In her role, Ms. Whitten supports the fundraising process for infrastructure project developers across sub-Saharan Africa.

Prior to joining the U.S. government, she was an Executive Director and Global Account Manager with Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) South Africa’s regional office, managing a c. $1 billion portfolio of multinational corporates, providing and structuring various financing and risk management solutions.

In addition to these roles, Ms. Whitten serves on the Global D&I Committee at USTDA and on the steering committee of 100 Women in Finance in South Africa. She previously served as chairwoman for SCB South Africa’s Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Council, as well as on the steering committee of the 30% Club South Africa.

Prior to her roles in South Africa, Ms. Whitten was with SCB New York’s Debt Capital Markets team, covering origination for North American corporates focused on global bond issuances, and before that she with Merrill Lynch Chicago in Private Banking supporting investment decisions and the management of the portfolios of high-net-worth individuals. Ms. Whitten holds a BSc from Northwestern University in Illinois.

Connect with USTDA