Dr. Jung H. Pak is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and is responsible for overseeing relations with Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. She also serves as the Deputy Special Representative for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Prior to arriving at State, she was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where she focused on Korean Peninsula issues, East Asia regional dynamics, and transnational threats related to proliferation, cybersecurity, and climate change. While at Brookings, she authored Becoming Kim Jong Un, which has been translated into multiple languages and draws from her deep knowledge and experience as an intelligence officer. Pak has held senior positions at the Central Intelligence Agency, receiving several awards for contributions to the President’s Daily Brief, superior analytic accomplishments, and service to advance workforce development. As the Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Korea at the National Intelligence Council, she led the Intelligence Community’s production of strategic analysis. Before her career in national security, Dr. Pak taught U.S. history in New York City. She received her PhD from Columbia University and studied in South Korea as a Fulbright Scholar. --- The Diverse Diplomacy Speaker Series is made possible by the Una Chapman Cox Foundation and is part of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy’s broader mandate to connect students with foreign policy practitioners and professionals to better understand the challenges and opportunities of these careers. Please visit www.diversediplomacy.com for more video content, information, and updates.

Ambassador Todd D. Robinson was sworn-in as the Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs on September 30, 2021. Ambassador Robinson last served as the Director of the International Student Management Office at the National Defense University. Prior to his assignment at NDU, he served as Senior Advisor for Central America in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs in Washington, DC. Ambassador Robinson was previously Chargé d’Affaires in Caracas, Venezuela from December 18, 2017 to May 22, 2018, when he was expelled by President Maduro. He was previously U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Guatemala from September 16, 2014, to September 20, 2017. Ambassador Robinson is a career diplomat with the rank of Career Minister. Ambassador Robinson previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. From 2009 until 2011, he served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala. Prior to that, he was Consul General and Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate in Barcelona, Spain and Chief of the Political and Economic Section in the U.S. Embassy in Tirana, Albania. Other overseas postings include the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Vatican City, Italy, El Salvador, and Colombia. In Washington, DC, Ambassador Robinson served in the Department’s Operations Center and as a Special Assistant to former Secretary of State Albright. He is the recipient of the Presidential Rank Award and two Department Superior Honor Awards. A native of New Jersey, Ambassador Robinson was a professional journalist before joining the Foreign Service. The Diverse Diplomacy Leaders Speaker Series connects current and former career Civil and Foreign Service Officers with those considering or entering careers in foreign policy. This event is brought to you as part of an Una Chapman Cox Foundation project on American Diplomacy and the Foreign Service. Learn more about Diverse Diplomacy at diversediplomacy.com.

Carmen G. Cantor, a career member of the Senior Executive Service, is current U.S. Ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia. Previously, she served as Director of the Office of Civil Service Human Resource Management in the Bureau of Human Resources, Executive Director for the Bureaus of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and International Information Programs (IIP), and Executive Director of the Bureau of Counterterrorism (CT) at the U.S. Department of State. Ms. Cantor also served as the Deputy Director of the Office of Recruitment, Examination & Employment (REE). During this time, the Department organized and implemented the largest expansion of recruitment, assessment and hiring in State Department history. In May of 2014, Latina Style magazine named her one five Latina Trailblazers of American Foreign Policy at the U.S. Department of State. Ms. Cantor was the Leadership Liaison and a past President of the Department of State’s Hispanic employee affinity group, HECFAA. In 2014, she received the Secretary of State’s EEO Award for her work. Ambassador Cantor will share insights on her Civil Service career, her work on diversity and inclusion, and offer advice for a successful career in foreign policy. The Diverse Diplomacy Leaders Speaker Series connects current and former career Civil and Foreign Service Officers with those considering or entering careers in foreign policy. This event is brought to you as part of an Una Chapman Cox Foundation project on American Diplomacy and the Foreign Service. Learn more about Diverse Diplomacy at diversediplomacy.com.

Ambassador Donald Yamamoto recently retired from the Foreign Service following an extraordinary 41-year career. Most recently, he served as the United States Ambassador to Somalia from 2018 until 2021. Yamamoto was previously the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from 2017 to 2018. He also served as the Senior Vice President for International Programs and Outreach at the National Defense University from 2016–2017; Senior Advisor to the Director General of the Foreign Service on personnel reform from 2015–2016; Chargé d'Affaires at the U.S. Mission Somalia office in Mogadishu in 2016; and in senior positions in Kabul, Mazar e-Sharif, and Bagram, Afghanistan from 2014–2015. He was the former acting Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs (2013), U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia (2006–2009) and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary within the Bureau of African Affairs. He was formerly the U.S. Ambassador to Djibouti (2000–2003), and Chargé d'Affaires ad interim in Eritrea (1997–1998). Ambassador Yamamoto is a graduate of Columbia College and did graduate studies at Columbia University, receiving a master's degree in international affairs. He has studied Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French. During his Foreign Service career, he has received four individual Superior Honor awards, two group awards, and the 2006 Robert Frasure Memorial Award for advancing conflict resolution in Africa. Ambassador Yamamoto will share insights on his Foreign Service career, his work on diversity and inclusion, and offer advice for a successful career in foreign policy. The Diverse Diplomacy Leaders Speaker Series connects current and former career Civil and Foreign Service Officers with those considering or entering careers in foreign policy. This event is brought to you as part of an Una Chapman Cox Foundation project on American Diplomacy and the Foreign Service. Learn more about Diverse Diplomacy at diversediplomacy.com.

Julieta Valls Noyes, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, currently serves as the Deputy Director of the Foreign Service Institute of the U.S. Department of State. Prior to this assignment, she was U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Croatia, a NATO Ally and member of the European Union. From 2013-2015, Ambassador Noyes held the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, where she was responsible for managing relations with twelve countries in Western Europe and the European Union. As Deputy Executive Secretary for the Department of State from 2011-2013, Ambassador Noyes managed trips and oversaw the preparation of briefing materials for two Secretaries of State. She organized close to twenty trips, traveling over 200,000 miles, and visiting every continent. Ambassador Noyes was Chargé d’Affaires, a.i., and Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See from 2008-2011. Ambassador Noyes has also served as Deputy Director of the Operations Center, the 24-hour crisis management and communications center of the State Department; Director of the Office of Multilateral and Global Affairs in the bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor; and in domestic and overseas positions in the Bureaus of European and Western Hemisphere Affairs. As Political Chief at the U.S. Embassy in Panama from 1999-2002, she negotiated a status of forces agreement, an achievement for which she earned a Distinguished Service Award. Ambassador Noyes speaks Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and some French and Croatian. A graduate of Wellesley College, she has a Master’s Degree from the Eisenhower College of the National Defense University. She is the recipient of numerous Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards. She is married to Nicholas Noyes, Jr., a retired Foreign Service Officer, and they have three children.

Mid-level Foreign Service Officers Lia Miller and Christina Tilghman, both of whom served as President of the Pickering and Rangel Fellows Association, share how they leveraged their leadership in the Employee Affinity Group to promote diversity and inclusion at the State Department, and advice for successful careers in foreign policy. Read Lia and Christina's recent article with Ana Escrogima in the Foreign Service Journal, "Diversity at State: A Dream Deferred and a Collective Responsibility": https://www.afsa.org/diversity-state-dream-deferred-and-collective-responsibility Recorded: November 20, 2020

Annika Betancourt serves as Peru desk officer and is currently dual-hatted as Deputy Director for the Office of Andean Affairs. She recently concluded the CFR International Affairs Fellowship at the Brookings Institution focusing on U.S.-North Korea confidence-building measures. On the DPRK desk in Washington, DC, Annika played a critical role in the release of UVA student Otto Warmbier from North Korea. Annika joined the Foreign Service in 2011 and has also served in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico; Athens, Greece; and Kabul, Afghanistan. Annika has a B.A. from the University of Maryland and a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. Mary Vargas joined the Foreign Service in 2008. She is serving as Trade and Investment Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City where she leads post’s engagement with the Government of Mexico on implementation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA). During a four year tour in Jerusalem, Mary developed policy recommendations for Gaza post-war reconstruction and designed technical assistance programs to improve West Bank water and energy infrastructure. She has also served as a Refugee Coordinator in Baghdad, Iraq; political officer in Karachi, Pakistan; and consular officer in Tijuana, Mexico. Mary has a B.A. from The George Washington University and an M.A. from the University of California in San Diego. Learn more about Diverse Diplomacy https://www.diversediplomacy.com/ Produced with support from the Una Chapman Cox Foundation's project on American Diplomacy and the Foreign Service. Recorded: February 4, 2021

Mirembe Nantongo recently retired from the State Department after a 25-year career as a Foreign Service Generalist. Of Ugandan and Dutch parentage, she first worked for State as a Locally Employed staff member at U.S. Embassy Kampala, then spent six years as an Eligible Family Member before joining A-100 as a Foreign Service officer in 1995. She served and lived in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Washington, D.C. Although coned as a political officer, she worked in all five Foreign Service cones, served twice as a deputy chief of mission and, finally, as a Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Global Talent Management. Both her sons were born under the Foreign Service umbrella and spent their childhoods in international schools overseas. Influenced by Embassy Marine Security Guards in various assignments, both ended up as U.S. Marines themselves—one now on active duty and the other recently graduated from college. Mirembe retired in order to spend more time with her aging mother who lives in the Netherlands. Learn more about Diverse Diplomacy https://www.diversediplomacy.com/​ Produced with support from the Una Chapman Cox Foundation's project on American Diplomacy and the Foreign Service.

Prof. Bibbins Sedaca serves as the Chair for the Global Politics and Security Concentration in Georgetown University’s Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) program and is a Professor in the Practice of International Affairs in MSFS. Ms. Bibbins Sedaca has held numerous positions in the public and non-governmental sectors in the United States and Ecuador. She served for ten years in the United States Department of State, working on democracy promotion, human rights, human trafficking, religious freedom, refugees, and counterterrorism. During this time, her positions included: the Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs, the Senior Director for Strategic Planning and External Affairs in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, and the Special Assistant to the Ambassador-At-Large for Counterterrorism. Following her governmental service, she opened and directed the International Republican Institute’s local governance program in Ecuador. She also taught at the Universidad de San Francisco de Quito (Ecuador) on democratization and conflict resolution. She also co-led the USFQ Model United Nations team that won several awards in April 2009. Prior to returning to Georgetown full-time, she served as the Director of the Washington Office of Independent Diplomat, a diplomatic advisory group. Ms. Bibbins Sedaca holds a Master’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from The College of William and Mary, where she was a Presidential and Monroe Scholar. She studied at Humboldt Universitaet in Berlin, Germany, while on a Rotary International Scholarship. In 2015, she was awarded Georgetown’s 1820 Graduate Award for outstanding leadership and service by graduate alumni to the Georgetown alumni community. She has earned three Superior Honor Awards and a Meritorious Honor Award from the U.S. Department of State. While at Georgetown, she received the Dean’s Citation and Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence, and also was a Georgetown University Scholarship Recipient, Dorothy Danforth Scholarship Recipient and Edward Weintal Distinguished Scholar. She serves at the Chairperson of the Board of the International Justice Mission, a non-governmental organization fighting human trafficking and violence against the poor. She has served as the Chair of the Board of the Institute for Global Engagement, a non-governmental organization promoting religious freedom overseas, and also served on the Board of Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, the William and Mary Fund and the William and Mary Washington Office.