NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The United States has appointed Usha E Pitts as the new chargé d’affaires a.i. to The Bahamas.
She takes up the post following Stephanie Bowers, who served as chargé d’affaires from 2018 to 2020.
Accompanied by Garrett Wilkerson, acting deputy chief of mission and director/International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, and Daniel Villanueva, political-economic-commercial chief, Pitts paid a courtesy call on Minister of Foreign Affairs Darren Henfield at the ministry’s offices on Monday, February 1. Also in attendance were Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Peter Deveaux-Isaacs and Director General Sharon Brennen-Haylock.
Pitts began her tour at the US Embassy in The Bahamas on New Year’s Day 2021.
Prior to this post, she served at diplomatic posts in Russia, Cuba, Italy, Austria, Panama and Brazil. She has also served in Washington, DC, and New York City.
She began her career at US embassies in Moscow and Panama City. She has worked in Havana, where she tracked the Cuban economy.
As the diplomat in residence for New York City, Pitts recruited aspiring diplomats and promoted public service. During her most recent tour abroad, she led the US Consulate General in Recife, a seaside city in Brazil’s growing Northeast region. She also worked in Rome and Vienna as a US liaison to international organizations, dealing with food security and atomic energy.
During her tour in Washington, Pitts supervised a team in the State Department’s Operations Centre, a 24-hour crisis management and communications center.
She was born and raised in Massachusetts, the daughter of an interracial marriage. At the age of 11, she traveled to India, an experience that led to a lifetime of travel and an eventual career in the Foreign Service. She speaks Mandarin, Russian, German, Spanish and Portuguese, and holds degrees from the University of Massachusetts, George Washington University and the Naval War College.
Pitts and her husband are the proud parents of two teenagers. They look forward to learning about The Bahamas and other island nations in the English-speaking Caribbean.
