Kamissa Camara is the director for external affairs and Africa policy at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and a senior visiting expert for the Sahel, United States Institute of Peace, Washington, D.C. Previously, she served as the minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation of Mali. Camara is a senior subject matter expert on foreign policy, sociopolitical issues and security in sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, she serves as a senior visiting expert for the Sahel at the United States Institute of Peace. From 2015 to 2018, she was the sub-Saharan Africa instructor at the Foreign Service Institute at the U.S. Department of State.

Camara served as chief of staff to the president of Mali, minister of digital economy and planning, and senior foreign policy advisor to the president of Mali. Prior to working with the Malian government, Camara held leadership positions in Washington, D.C., with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and PartnersGlobal. At NED, Camara co-founded and co-chaired the Sahel Strategy Forum. She also spearheaded a multimillion-dollar program supporting civil society initiatives in West and Central Africa, with a particular focus on the Sahel.

Camara is a frequent commentator for such international news outlets as CNN, BBC, RFI, Al Jazeera, Voice of America, The Washington Post and Le Monde Afrique. She holds an MA in international economics and globalization from the Université Grenoble Alpes and a BA in international relations from the Université de Paris.

Camera joined the FHI 360 Board of Directors in May 2021.