David Gosney is the Kenya’s current United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director, who oversees the organization’s implementation of U.S. foreign assistance programs.
Gosney was appointed in 2022, and under his leadership, USAID has supported Kenya in health, education, trade, agriculture, and infrastructure, with current funding of $1 billion every year.
He has had an extensive career in the policy sector, dedicating more than two decades to USAID leadership and management.
Education
David Gosney holds a Bachelor of Science in Physical Sciences from Humboldt State University, completed between 1986 and 1991.
He then pursued a Master’s degree in International Affairs at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) from 1995 to 1997.
Gosney also holds a second Master of Science degree in National Security Strategy from the National War College, attending from 2015 to 2016.
Career
The USAID boss began his career with the Peace Corps, a US government agency that sends volunteers to help people in other countries. The volunteers work in communities overseas for 27 months, providing technical assistance in areas like education, health, and agriculture.
He served as a Secondary School Math and Science Teacher in Zimbabwe from September 1991 to December 1993 before returning to America to officialy begin his career.
Gosney worked as an Economist at the Institute of International Finance from November 1997 to February 2003, a role he held for over five years in the Washington D.C. Metro Area.
Building on the economics knowledge he gained at IIF, he joined USAID as a Program Economist in March 2003, working for 11 months in the Washington D.C. Metro Area.
He was then assigned a Deputy Office Director for Economic Growth in Baghdad, Iraq, from November 2004 to October 2005. He then promoted as the Office Director for Economic Growth but this time in Tbilisi, Georgia, where he worked for five years from November 2005 to April 2010.
He was then transferred to Juba, South Sudan, but continued to serve in the Office Director for Economic Growth role, working from May 2010 to July 2012.
Taking a career break for a few months, Gosney resumed work in January 2013 to serve as a USAID Office Director for General Development in Bangkok, Thailand, a role he held for two and half years.
He received another promotion to Deputy Mission Director, returning to Juba in 2016. He would serve for just over a year, after qhich je was transferred to San Salvador, El Salvador in thw same role, working from July 2018 to October 2019.
Gosney was elevated to Mission Director in San Salvador, serving from October 2019 to October 2022 aftwr which he was transferred to Nairobi ,Kenya in the same role in 2022.
He has been in the role since, working together with the government to enhance development efforts within Kenya.
USAID Shutdown
Gosney is now among thousands of USAID employees who will be placed on leave from Friday, February 7.
This comes after President Donald Trump’s decision to freeze foreign assistance to align with the president’s policy priorities of reducing “wastage” of Americans’ hard earned money.
