Olive Sampson is the Chief Executive Officer of the International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly (IDPADA-G), the Guyana Country Coordinating Mechanism tasked with implementing the goals of the United Nations Decade for People of African Descent.  Prior to her appointment as CEO of IDPADA-G, Ms. Sampson served for over thirty years in leadership positions within the U. S. Department of State – – in the Bureau of Public Affairs, at the U.S. Mission to the African Union and within the former United States Information Agency. She began her career working on economic development programs in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa with the National Council of Negro Women and the Inter-American Foundation.

Ms. Sampson received her B.A. in Spanish (Hons.) and French from Howard University and M.A. in Latin American Studies from Georgetown University, Washington D.C.  She completed leadership training programs at The John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and the U. S. Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute.