Jene Thomas is the new Mission Director at USAID Mexico, starting in July 2023. He is a career member of the U.S. Foreign Service with the rank of Minister Counselor. Director Thomas has worked for USAID for 26 years in Mexico, Afghanistan, Colombia, Pakistan, Washington, DC, Haiti, and Peru. He has extensive experience in the following sectors: environment, democracy and governance, human rights, economic development, health, education, agriculture, and humanitarian and disaster response. He is fluent in Spanish, French, and English.
Previously, Director Thomas served as the Mission Director at USAID Peru (2019-2023), Mission Director at USAID Haití (2016-2019), Director of the Caribbean Affairs Office at USAID Washington (2014-2015), Acting Mission Director at USAID Colombia (2011), and Acting Deputy Mission Director at USAID Colombia (2010-2011).
Before USAID, from 1986 to 1997, Director Thomas worked at the U.S. Embassy Mexico City Community Liaison Office (CLO); the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Germany; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Washington, D.C; the Instituto Dominicano de Desarrollo Integral (IDDI) in the Dominican Republic; the U.S. Peace Corps in Mali; and the Texas Water Commission in his hometown, Austin, Texas.
Director Thomas holds a Bachelor's Degree in Geology from the University of Texas at Austin (1986). In addition, he studied Environmental Public Policy at the University of Maryland (1991-1992), and completed a Diploma Program in Environmental Management and Sustainable Development at the Iberoamericana University in Santa Fe, Mexico City (1996-1997).