Department of State Completes Selection of Deputy Assistant Secretaries for Public Diplomacy

Congratulations to the Office of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs: they have their Deputy Assistant Secretaries in place to support the State Department strategic framework for public diplomacy. From the State Department:

The State Department announced today that it had completed a key component of its strategic framework for public diplomacy, with the selection of Deputy Assistant Secretaries for public diplomacy in the Department’s six geographic bureaus and a Deputy Assistant Secretary for international media engagement in the Bureau of Public Affairs.

“The Department of State’s strategic framework for public diplomacy was designed to strengthen our ability to match strategies and programs to our country’s top foreign policy priorities,” stated Judith A. McHale, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. “These new Deputy Assistant Secretaries will provide valuable public diplomacy leadership in this critical endeavor, and ensure the close integration of public diplomacy with policy formulation.”

The new Deputy Assistant Secretaries are:

Spencer P. Boyer assumed his duties as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs in August 2009. Mr. Boyer’s work in the bureau focuses on U.S. public diplomacy and public affairs. His bureau portfolio has also covered Western European affairs. Prior to joining the State Department, Mr. Boyer was the Director of International Law and Diplomacy in the National Security and International Policy Department of the Center for American Progress, a Washington-based think tank. At the Center, Mr. Boyer focused on transatlantic relations, European affairs, multilateralism, and international security.

Mr. Boyer is a graduate of Wesleyan University and received his J.D. from New York University School of Law, where he specialized in public international law and the work of international organizations. While at NYU, he also obtained a master’s degree in French Studies, with a concentration in French politics, history, and economy. Mr. Boyer began his professional career as an Associate with the international law firm of Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue in Washington, D.C. Subsequently, he worked in The Hague as a Law Clerk to the President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, in Zurich as a Staff Attorney at the Claims Resolution Tribunal for Dormant Accounts in Switzerland, and in Paris as Counsel at the International Court of Arbitration. He has also served as the Executive Director and War Powers Initiative Director at the Constitution Project, based at Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute, and as a Corporate Affairs Director at a Fortune 500 company in San Francisco.

Mr. Boyer has been a guest analyst with numerous international, national, and local news outlets and is widely published on foreign affairs matters. Among other professional distinctions, Mr. Boyer served on the Independent Task Force on U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations and was a Wasserstein Public Interest Fellow at Harvard Law School. He is a member of the Bars of the District of Columbia, New York, and New Jersey.

Greta C. Holtz, a career Senior Foreign Service Officer, is the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Strategic Communications in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. She assumed this position in June 2010. Prior to this assignment, Ms. Holtz served as Minister-Counselor for Provincial Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad (May 2009-May 2010), and ran the U.S. Provincial Reconstruction Teams, with oversight of over 800 USG personnel and $1 billion in USG program and assistance funds.
Ms. Holtz entered the Foreign Service in 1985 and has served in U.S. missions in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Tunisia, Syria, and as Principal Officer in Adana, Turkey. From 2006-2007, Ms. Holtz was the Director of the Middle East Partnership Initiative, managing the State Department’s democracy promotion program in the Middle East. From 2004-2006 she was the State Department’s Coordinator for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Ms. Holtz received a B.S. in political science from Vanderbilt University, M.A. in International Relations from the University of Kentucky, and M.S. in National Security Studies from the National War College (2004).

Ms. Holtz speaks Arabic, Turkish, and French, and has been the recipient of numerous State Department Superior and Meritorious honor awards, as well as the Christopher Medallion from the Central Intelligence Agency.

Prior to joining the State Department, Ms. Holtz worked as an intern in the NATO policy office, in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and as an analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency.

James R. Moore is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor. He entered the Foreign Service in 1984. Mr. Moore assumed his duties as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs in September 2010.

Mr. Moore was the Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka from 2006 to 2009. Prior to that, he served as Minister Counselor for Public Affairs at the United States Embassy in Turkey from 2003 to 2006. He has also held public diplomacy positions at U.S. embassies and consulates in India, Pakistan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, and Ecuador. From 2002 to 2003, he was a member of the Department of State’s Senior Seminar, where he and other participants from U.S. foreign affairs agencies received advanced training in the interagency process and leadership. He was the Deputy Director and Acting Director of the Office of Career Development and Assignments in the Bureau of Human Resources from 2009 until assuming his current position.

Mr. Moore earned a Master’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and a Bachelor’s degree from Colby College.

Fabiola Rodríguez-Ciampoli became the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs in August 2010, after serving as senior advisor in that Bureau.

Ms. Rodriguez-Ciampoli previously served as communications director for the office of the Vice Chair of the Democratic Caucus Rep. Xavier Becerra, in the U.S. House of Representatives. She also led media efforts to reach out to Hispanic voters as Director of Hispanic Communications for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2007-2008 and for John Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2004. Her past positions include Director of Hispanic Media for the Senate Democratic Communications Center and Director of Specialty Media for the Democratic National Committee.

Ms. Rodriguez-Ciampoli has more than 15 years of experience in communications, public affairs and public relations in the United States and Mexico. She earned a Masters of Arts in Public Communication at American University, sponsored by a Fulbright Scholarship, and a B.A. in Communications from Universidad Iberoamericana, in Mexico City.

Dana Shell Smith began her assignment as Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Media Engagement in July 2010. Previously, she served as Regional Arabic Language Spokesperson and Media Hub Director in Dubai.

Prior to her assignment in Dubai, Ms. Shell Smith served as a Senior Advisor to the Director General of the Foreign Service.

From 1992 to 2006, Ms. Shell Smith served in a number of positions specializing in Public Affairs and Public Diplomacy, including overseas tours of duty in Taiwan, Amman, Tel Aviv, and Cairo.

Ms. Shell Smith is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, and speaks Arabic, Chinese, Spanish and Hebrew. She is a graduate of the University of California at San Diego.

Jennifer Park Stout became Deputy Assistant Secretary responsible for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs in the East Asia and Pacific Affairs Bureau in September 2010.
Ms. Stout most recently served as Senior Adviser and Director of Senate Affairs in the Bureau of Legislative Affairs at the Department of State, where she coordinated the development of and advanced the Department’s and Administration’s foreign policy-related legislative priorities.

Over an 11-year career on Capitol Hill, Ms. Stout served as a staff member to former-Senator Joseph Biden on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Patrick Leahy on the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, Senator Jim Webb, and Representative James Moran.

Ms. Stout holds a M.A. in International Affairs from the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University and a B.A
. from James Madison University.

David Bruce Wharton became the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy in the Bureau of African Affairs in July 2010. He joined the Africa Bureau in August 2009 as the Director of the Office of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, after a two-year assignment as Deputy Coordinator of the State Department’s Bureau of International Information Programs. From 2003 to 2006 he was the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala.
Bruce Wharton entered the Foreign Service in 1985 and served at U.S. embassies in Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. In Africa, he has also had temporary duty in Tanzania, Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana. From 1992 to 1995 he worked in Washington, D.C. on Andean Affairs and Western Hemisphere policy issues. He has received Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards from the Department of State and the U.S. Information Agency.

Mr. Wharton was born in Basel, Switzerland, and enjoyed a cross-cultural childhood with time spent in both Europe and Texas. He is a graduate of the University of Texas in Austin and speaks Spanish and German. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Mr. Wharton worked in professional theater in the Washington, D.C. area.