For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
July 2, 2001

President Bush to Nominate Three Individuals to Serve in his Administration

President George W. Bush today announced his intention to nominate three individuals to serve in his administration.

The President intends to nominate Wanda L. Nesbitt to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Madagascar. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, she has served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania since 1999. Prior to her assignment in Tanzania, she was Deputy Chief of Mission in Kigali. She has held numerous positions in Washington D.C. including the Executive Secretariat of the Department of State, and she has completed multiple overseas assignments. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.

The President intends to nominate Mattie R. Sharpless to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Central African Republic. She is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and has held the post of Special Envoy to Emerging Economies in the Office of the Administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service since 1999. Sharpless served at the Foreign Agriculture Service as Deputy Administrator for Foreign Agricultural Affairs from 1989 to 1995 and as Assistant Deputy Administrator for International Trade Policy from 1988 to 1989. She has completed assignments overseas including Agricultural Counselor in Rome and as Assistant Agricultural Attachi to the U.S. Mission to the European Communities in Brussels. She is a graduate of North Carolina College and earned a Masters degree from North Carolina Central University.

The President intends to nominate George McDade Staples to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Cameroon and to the Republic of Equatorial Guinea. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, he has served as Chief of Mission in Rwanda since 1998. He has served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Manama and in Harare as well as Political/Economic Officer in Nassau, Malabo and Montevideo. He has served in Washington, D.C. as the International Relations Officer in the Office of Southern European Affairs and as a watch officer in the Departments Secretariat. Staples is a graduate of the University of Southern California and received a Masters degree from Central Michigan University.