David Leishman serves as Agricultural Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Paris.  David joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as an agricultural economist in 2002.  He has served as agricultural attaché in Rome and at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels. From 2009 to 2013, David was the Senior U.S. Agricultural Attaché for India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. In 2014, he helped lead trade negotiations with South Korea and Morocco, and in 2016 he was appointed Director of the U.S. Agricultural Trade Offices in Russia.  Prior to his assignment in France, David also served as USDA’s Senior Director for Africa & the Middle East.

After earning degree in international relations from the London School of Economics, David was a research associate at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, DC.  He earned his master’s degree from the University of Wyoming and did graduate studies at the University of Minnesota before earning his PhD in agricultural economics at the University of Bologna in Italy.