Dr. Shannon Dolan currently serves as the Acting Deputy Chief of Mission for the U.S. Mission to Saudi Arabia. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Dr. Dolan has led management operations at the mission and served as the U.S. Director of the bilateral Program of Technical Cooperation in Saudi Arabia over the past three years.
In her role, she directed an interagency team focused on developing and implementing training and advising programs aimed at enhancing security, protecting critical infrastructure, and countering terrorism in alignment with U.S national security objectives.
Dr. Dolan's previous positions include serving as International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Director and Acting Deputy Chief of Mission in Yerevan. Her international experience extends to assignments in Tbilisi, Pristina, Skopje, Tirana, and Manila.
Before joining the State Department, Dr. Dolan worked as a Regional Executive Manager overseeing title insurance attorneys across four states and was involved in social psychology research assistance.
Dr. Dolan holds a PhD in Organizational Psychology, an MA in Social Psychology, and an MS in Political Science. She has also contributed as an academic reviewer for a peer-reviewed public administration journal.
She has been recognized with several Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards from the Department of State for her service contributions. In addition to English, she is fluent in Greek and Albanian and speaks Russian.
Dr. Dolan is married with two teenage children; they previously owned a restaurant together.