Innovation Summit - Meridian International Center

Speaker Biographies
Ambassador Sharon Wilkinson serves as Meridian International Center’s
Diplomatic Adviser having served as Senior Vice President and Deputy. Prior
to that she was the Assistant Dean for Global Engagement at Arizona State
University. She has also been a speaker on foreign policy issues at Syracuse
University and New Mexico State University. Prior to her assistant deanship
at ASU, she was President of the World Affairs Council of Arizona, where
she spearheaded a successful effort to increase visibility and membership,
create new programs, and expand and diversify International Visitor Program
professional resources. Ambassador Wilkinson’s Foreign Service spanned for
30 years culminating in successive ambassadorial appointments to Burkina
Faso and the Republic of Mozambique.
David Bruce Wharton joined the Bureau of International Information
Programs in August 2007. Prior to joining IIP, Mr. Wharton worked as a
senior-level career development officer in the Department’s Bureau of Human
Resources (2006-2007). From 2003-2006 he served as the Deputy Chief of
Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala. Mr. Wharton entered the Foreign
Service in 1985 and has been posted abroad in Argentina, Chile, Bolivia,
South Africa, Zimbabwe and Guatemala, and served in Washington, DC
from 1992-1995. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Mr. Wharton worked in
professional theater in the Washington, DC area. He has received Superior
and Meritorious Honor Awards from the Department of State and the U.S.
Information Agency.
Rahama Wright was introduced to shea butter production in 2002 when she
worked as an intern for the Department of State at the American Embassy in
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Soon after this, she committed to a two year
Peace Corps service in Mali. When Ms. Wright returned to the US in 2004 she
started the process of creating Shea Yeleen International, and in 2005 she
officially launched Shea Yeleen International, a 501c3 that helps women in
West Africa organize cooperatives, provides training on quality assurance and
micro enterprise development, and brings shea butter products to market.
Shea Yeleen is working to help over 700 women earn a living wage through
the production and sale of shea butter. Shea Yeleen has been featured in
Oprah Magazine, Real Simple, and Women’s Health Magazine, NY 1, The Washington Informer,
Rolling Out, Voice of America, and WPFW 89.3. In 2008 the White House Project and O, Oprah
Magazine selected Ms. Wright as a national leader. Ms. Wright has worked for Aguirre International,
Georgetown University, and the Department of State. She’s an avid traveler and visited and worked
in Afghanistan, Morocco, Namibia, Zambia, Kenya, Southern Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia,
Tanzania, and Ghana.
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