Sara Walter is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, having most recently served as the Deputy Mission Director for USAID/Liberia. Ms. Walter served as the Regional Deputy Mission Director for the USAID/Central Asia (USAID/CA) Regional Mission from March 2016 until July 2018. She worked closely with the Mission Director to lead 165 staff across USAID/CA’s five office locations in Almaty and Astana, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, and lead management of bilateral programs in those countries. She also directed regional programs covering these Central Asian countries, the Kyrgyz Republic, Afghanistan and Pakistan. She directed technical and support office assistance for the five locations, as well as the the Kyrgyz Republic stand-alone USAID Mission. USAID/CA programs across the region focus on trade and markets, energy and water, infectious disease, preventing violent extremism, and governance and social services. The regional mission supports the Central and South Asia strategies to increase regional connectivity, reduce instability, promote investment opportunities, and increase trade and access to regional energy resources.

 Ms. Walter previously served as the Director of the Program Office for USAID/Pakistan, the second largest USAID program, from 2013-2015.  She also served as the Director of the program offices for USAID/Egypt from 2011-2013 through two revolutions; the USAID/Regional Development Mission for Asia (RDMA) covering Burma, China, Laos, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, Vietnam, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands; and USAID/Mexico from 2002-2006. 

Prior to joining USAID as a USDH in 2002, Ms. Walter served as Project Development Specialist for USAID/Honduras, and an advisor in trade and business climate for projects funded by USAID, the World Bank, and the United Nations in Latin America and the former Soviet Union. She also served as a trader in financial instruments for the Bank of Boston. She holds an MBA from Simmons College in Boston, and a BA in Ancient History from the University of Kansas.