Backgrounder: Announcement of new diplomatic appointments

Annika Allman (BA Hons [Social Development Studies], University of Waterloo, 2007; Master of International Affairs, Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, 2011) joined the Canadian International Development Agency in 2007. At Headquarters, she has served in policy and programming roles in international development. Overseas, she has held assignments at the High Commission in Tanzania as second secretary (development) and the High Commission in Ghana as counsellor (political and public affairs). She returned to Headquarters in 2022 as director of the Operations, Planning and Strategic Coordination Division in the Sub-Saharan Africa Branch. Most recently, she was the first director of Pan-geographic Programming in the new Pan-geographic Affairs Branch.

Michelle Cooper (BA Hons [Economics], McGill University, 1994; MA [Economics], University of British Columbia, 1995) joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 1997. She has served at Global Affairs Canada in a variety of roles, including as director of services trade policy, director of strategic economic policy and analysis, as well as executive director in the Trade Sectors Bureau. She was director general of the Market Access Secretariat in the International Affairs Branch at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (2022 to 2025) before returning to Global Affairs Canada as associate assistant deputy minister of international trade. Overseas, she has served at the Embassy to Chile, at the mission to the European Union in Brussels and twice at the Permanent Mission in Geneva, including, most recently, as minister and deputy permanent representative to the World Trade Organization and other related entities based in Geneva.

Lindsey Partridge (BA Hons [International Development and Globalization], University of Ottawa, 2009) joined the Canadian International Development Agency in 2010. At Headquarters, she has worked in the Strategic Policy and Planning Branch, as well as the Southern and Eastern Africa Bureau. She has covered bilateral country programs, including for South Sudan and Ethiopia, and served as deputy director of the Ethiopia Bilateral Development Division. Most recently, she was head of cooperation in Maputo, from 2020 to 2024.