Heather Schildge joined USAID’s Foreign Service in 2009 and currently serves as Deputy General Counsel (Foreign Service).  Prior to assuming this position, she was the Assistant General Counsel for Europe and Eurasia, Latin America and the Caribbean and the Middle East.  From 2010-2014 she served as Resident Legal Officer in the Dominican Republic, supporting USAID Missions in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Haiti and Jamaica.

Before joining USAID, Ms. Schildge worked as an attorney in the Department of State's Office of the Legal Adviser, where she advised on issues including international claims, UN peacekeeping operations, U.S. and UN sanctions and UN counterterrorism measures. From 2005 to 2008, she was the Legal Counselor at U.S. Embassy The Hague, representing the United States before several international tribunals.  Additionally, she completed a clerkship with the Honorable Anne Thompson (DNJ) and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Lesotho.

Ms. Schildge is a graduate of Harvard Law School (JD, magna cum laude), the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (MALD) and the University of Pennsylvania (BA, magna cum laude) and is a member of the Bars of New Jersey and New York.