Jocelyn Brown Hall
Director of North America, Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)
Jocelyn Brown Hall is Director of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Liaison Office for North America based in Washington, DC. She joined the office on 14 June 2021. Prior to this role she served as the Deputy Regional Representative for the FAO Regional Office for Africa, where she oversaw 47 FAO country offices in Africa and guides their strategy and communications around food security. She also serves as the FAO Representative for Ghana, where she worked with ministries of agriculture, fisheries, social protection and trade.
In 2015, Brown Hall was appointed Deputy Administrator in the Foreign Agricultural Service where she led the USDA’s USD $2 billion food and technical assistance programs in low- and middle-income countries. In this position, she oversaw USDA’s international food and technical assistance programs, including the McGovern-Dole Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program, the Food for Progress Program, the Cochran and Borlaug Fellowship Programs, and numerous technical assistance projects that promote U.S. government food security and trade capacity building goals. Prior to this role, she spent years on agriculture trade policy and development, specifically in Afghanistan, Central America, China, Haiti, Malawi and Laos.
Brown Hall began her career teaching English at an agricultural university in Peshawar, Pakistan, while serving in the Peace Corps. She then ran the largest income generation program for Afghan women refugees in Pakistan for Save the Children.
Brown Hall holds a master’s degree in Business Administration in International Business and Development from the George Washington University and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in American Literature.