Deniece Laurent-Mantey

Deniece Laurent-Mantey serves as the Executive Director of the President’s Advisory Council on African Diaspora Engagement in the U.S. and the senior State Department representative for the U.S.- Africa Leaders Summit. From 2021 to 2023, she was the Director for Africa at the White House National Security Council where she led over 18 U.S. government agencies and coordinated with stakeholders to execute President Biden’s 2022 U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. She has served as a member of the Secretary of State’s policy planning staff, and held positions including Acting Deputy Director and Desk Officer in the Bureau of African Affairs and Special Assistant to Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry. She is the recipient of two Department of State Superior Honor Awards and two Meritorious Honor Awards. She was named a Most Influential People of African Descent in 2018. She has MA in African Studies and Public Policy from Howard University and a BA from Syracuse University.