A career member of the U.S. Senior Executive Service, Gloria Steele was Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator for Asia prior to her appointment as Acting Assistant Administrator for Asia.

Most recently before that, Steele served as USAID Mission Director for the Philippines and the Pacific Islands. Prior to her position in Manila, Steele served as the Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Global Health. At the Bureau for Global Health, she oversaw an average annual health program budget of $1.5 billion and a staff of 240. From 2001-2004, she served as Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Europe and Eurasia. She also worked for seven years in the Bureau for Africa as an agricultural economist, and seven years in the Bureau for Science and Technology overseeing applied research on key rural development issues such as land tenure, access to agricultural credit, food security and natural resource management. Steele served one year in the Bureau for Policy and Program Coordination, where she led the development of policies related to food security.

Earlier in her career, Steele served as a management consultant to the Philippines' secretary of agriculture, and taught business economics at Letran Graduate School for Business in Manila.

Steele received a master's in agricultural economics from Kansas State University and a bachelor's in business administration from Maryknoll College in the Philippines. Her awards include a Presidential Meritorious Executive Award in 2007 and a Presidential Distinguished Executive Award in 2008.