Tulinabo S. Mushingi, Ph.D., was nominated by President Biden on April 19, 2021, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on December 18, 2021. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Mushingi served as Ambassador to Senegal and Guinea-Bissau from 2017-2022 and as Ambassador to Burkina Faso from 2013-2016. Ambassador Mushingi also served as Deputy Executive Secretary in the Executive Secretariat and Executive Director of the Executive Office of the Secretary of State from 2011-2013. He also served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the United States Embassy in Ethiopia from 2009 to 2011.

Ambassador Mushingi has served in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Maputo, Mozambique; Casablanca, Morocco; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; the Office of Intelligence and Research; the Office of International Organization Affairs and the Office of Human Resources. He is the recipient of numerous awards for outstanding leadership.

At the Foreign Service Institute from 1989 to 1991, Dr. Mushingi co-supervised one of the largest language sections of the FSI. He has worked for the United States Peace Corps in Papua New Guinea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger, and the Central African Republic, was a visiting professor at Dartmouth College, and taught at Howard University. Ambassador Mushingi received a Ph.D. from Georgetown University and an M.A. from Howard University.