The Honorable Sally Cowal
Explore Further
November 2020 - Diplomacy During a Health Crisis. Watch the Program
March 2020 - NMAD Explores the Legacy of Dance Diplomacy. Learn More
Biography
Ambassador Sally Grooms Cowal entered the Foreign Service in 1971 following her government career in 1966 as a management intern with the US Information Agency (USIA). Her USIA Foreign Service assignments included special assistant to the public affairs officer (PAO) in India (1971-1973); director of the Association of Chief Academic Officers (ACAO) BiNational Center in Bogota, Colombia (1974-1978); chief administrative officer in Tel Aviv, Israel (1978-1982); and director of youth exchange (1982-1983) and PAO in Mexico (1985-1989). On detail to the US Department of State, she served as deputy political counselor for the US Mission to the United Nations (1983-1985), deputy assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs (1989-1991), and ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago (1991-1994). She retired from the Foreign Service in 1995 with the rank of career minister. She received a Superior Honor Award and several Meritorious Honor Awards from the State Department.
Following her foreign service career, Ambassador Cowal was selected as the director of external relations for the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), serving in that capacity from 1995-1999. Upon leaving the UN, she became president and chief executive officer of Youth For Understanding, International Exchange, in 1999 and the CEO of the Cuba Policy Foundation in 2001. In 2002, she joined Population Services International, an international health and development organization, where she served in various capacities until 2013. Since 2013, she has been the senior vice president for global cancer control at the American Cancer Society.
Ambassador Cowal graduated from DePauw University in 1966 and received a masters degree in public administration from George Washington University in 1969. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
She has served on several boards of directors, including as a trustee at DePauw (2000-2012), the Tinker Foundation (2002-2019), the Diplomacy Center Foundation (2012-present), Grounds For Health (2015-present), and the Friends of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River (2018-present). She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Ms. Cowal is married to Robert L. Muse, a Washington, DC, attorney specializing in international law. They own Muse Vineyards, an award-winning vineyard and winery in Woodstock, Virginia.