September 7, 2016
George Hughes and Molly Hughes Wilmer of Vision Strategic talk about the United States Department of State’s Rewards for Justice Program (RFJ). RFJ is a counter-terrorism program that works to prevent international acts of terror against US citizens or on US soil, or to bring justice to those responsible for such acts. They will talk to the International Club about the program’s history, and how it is adapting to address the threat posed by ISIS/DAESH.
October 5, 2016
His Excellency Ahn Ho-Young, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea.
Ambassador Ahn is a graduate of the Department of International Relations at Seoul National University and of the Graduate School of Georgetown University. Ambassador Ahn joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1978 and in his early years served in the Embassies in India and the United States and was later deeply involved in international trade activities both within the Korean government and oversees with the OECD and the World Trade Organization. More recently Ambassador Ahn served as deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade and was Ambassador to Belgium and head of the Korean Mission to the European Union. He took up is current role in 2013.
November 2, 2016
Professor Ernest Tucker of the US Naval Academy
Professor Tucker will speak on the subject “Turkey and the World in the Fall of 2016; the end of zero problems with neighbors”. Dr Tucker, who is well known to the International Club, holds a PhD in Middle Eastern History from the University of Chicago and spent time in the late 1980’s and in 2005-2006 living and doing research in Istanbul, Turkey as a Fulbright Scholar. Dr Tucker’s interest in the Middle East led him to learn its languages: Arabic, Persian and Turkish.
December 7, 2016
His Excellency, Carlos Sada, the Ambassador of the Republic of Mexico
Ambassador Sada, who was born into a family of entrepreneurs, has an Industrial Engineering degree from the Ibero-American University and a post graduate degrees in Production Systems Development from the University of Newcastle, in Economic Development from the University of Delft, and in Industrial Development from the institute of Public Administration in The Hague. Applying his industrial development training he served as adviser to the Undersecretary of Education and Technology and later as coordinator of federal and state budgets in his home State of Oaxaca. He has held consular positions in Canada and in the US, including in San Antonio, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. He was appointed Ambassador to the United States on April 5th 2016.
January 4, 2017
Stanley KAO, Representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Washington DC.
Mr. Kao, born in Taipei, holds a BA in Political Science and an MA in International Laws and Diplomacy, both from prominent Taiwanese Universities, and was a Fellow of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University.
Mr. Kao has had a distinguished career with the Government of Taipei. His many positions have included Director General, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, Atlanta Georgia; English interpreter for President LEE Teng-hui, Director General, Department of International Cooperation and Economic Affairs, Taipei. Prior to his current appointment, he was Representative, Taipei Representative Office, Rome, Italy.
February 1, 2017
Ambassador PHAM QUANG VINH, Vietnam
Ambassador Pham Qang Vinh graduated from the University of Foreign Affairs Hanoi and earned a post graduate degree at Canberra College of Advanced Education Australia. He began his career in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1980 rising to the position of Deputy Director in 1995. From 2008 to 2015 he served successively in the roles of Assistant and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in charge of relations with countries in South Asia, South East Asia, and the South Pacific and Vietnam’s Senior Official to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). He was appointed Ambassador to the United States in 2015.
March 1, 2017
Her Excellency, Vlora Çitaku, Ambassador of the Republic of Kosovo
Ambassador Çitaku was born in Prishtina in 1980 and as a 19 year old was appointed Chief of Protocol of the Provisional Government of Kosovo and Spokesperson for Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK). While serving two terms as an Assembly Delegate from 2002 to 2007, she studied Philology at the University of Pristina and obtained a Master’s Degree in Journalism from the Kosovo Institute of for Journalism and Communications. She also studied abroad in the United States and France. From 2007 to 2010 she held the roles of Deputy Foreign Minister and then Acting Foreign Minister. From 2010 to 2014 she was Minister of European Integration and was Chief Negotiator for the Stabilization and Association Agreement. Prior to her current appointment as Ambassador, she served as Consul General of Kosovo’s Mission in New York.
April 5, 2017
Ambassador George Christian Maior, Romania
The speaker for our meeting on April 5th is George Cristian Maior, Ambassador of Romania to the United States. Ambassador Maior was born in 1967, he graduated in Law in1991, and in 1992 obtained a Master of Arts in International and Comparative Law from George Washington University; in 1998 he obtained a Doctorate in International Law at Babeş-Bolyai University and in 2001 graduated from the Defense National College in Bucharest. Between 1992 and 1997 he was a diplomat in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and between 1997 and 1999, he was Chargė d’Affairs at the Romanian Embassy in Dublin. Between 2000 and 2004 he held the position of State Secretary and Head of the Department of Euro-Integration and Defense Policy within the Ministry of National Defense and led the NATO joining negotiations. In 2004 he was elected Senator in the Romanian Parliament and in 2006 was appointed Director of the Romanian Intelligence Service and served in that role for 8 years. He became Ambassador to the United States in 2015.
May 3, 2017
Ambassador Theocharis (Haris) Lalacos, Greece
The speaker for our meeting on May 3rd is Haris Lalacos, Ambassador of Greece to the United States. Mr. Lalacos was born in Athens in May 1957; he studied History at Amherst College, graduating in 1980 magna cum laude, and International Relations at the John Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in 1983. From 1983 until 1985 he served in the Hellenic Navy, and in October 1986 he joined the Hellenic Foreign Service and worked in various positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Athens until September 1990. From 1990 to 1994 he was Consul General in Sydney, Australia and was then transferred to the Greek Embassy in Ankara, Turkey where he served initially as First Secretary and subsequently as Counselor for Political and Economic Affairs. From 1998 until 2000 he directed the Cabinet of Dr. Roumeliotis, European Union Coordinator for stability in South East Europe and later as Chairman of the Working Table on Democratization and Human Rights for South East Europe. From 2000 to 2004 he served as Counselor for Political Affairs at the Embassy of Greece in Washington and from 2004 to 2007 as Consul General in Alexandria, Egypt. In 2007, he became Deputy Head of the Diplomatic Cabinet of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and from 2009 – 2010 he was head of the CFSD/ESPD Department. In 2010, he was transferred to Ankara as Deputy Head of Mission, later heading the Embassy as Charge d’Affairs. From 2013 to 2016 he was Ambassador in Skopje, Macedonia and then became Ambassador to the United States. Mr Lalacos is married to Anna Michalopoulou and they have two adult children.
June 7, 2017
Deputy Chief of Mission, Ambassador Lars Bo Moeller, Denmark
The speaker for our meeting on June 7th is Lars Bo Møller Deputy Chief of Mission of the Royal Danish Embassy, Washington. Mr. Møller holds an MA in political Science from Aarhus University and an MSc from the London School of Economics. After two years as Associate Professor in Public Administration and Political Science at Vilnius University, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Head of the European Policy Department, Department for South Africa in 1996, and in 2000 he was appointed Secretary of the Embassy, Permanent Representation of Denmark to the European Union. From 2003 to 2007 Mr. Møller was Deputy Head of the Foreign Policy Department and from 2007 to 2014 held a series of Department Head roles initially in the Agency for Government Management and later with responsibility for Stabilization and Security Policy; in 2014 he was appointed to his current role as Deputy Chief of Mission.
