All posts in Diplomacy

Jendayi Frazer

Jandayi Frazer

As the first woman U.S. Ambassador to South Africa Jendayi Frazer was the leading architect of U.S.-Africa policy for nearly a decade, serving in senior positions across the U.S. Government at the State Department, National Security Council and Department of Defense. The former top diplomat on Africa, she brings unparalleled access to African leaders and officials, and offers valuable insight on recent and future developments in Africa, and on U.S. foreign policy, international development policy and national security decision-making. Read more…

James Glassman

James Glassman

A former CNN talk show moderator, syndicated financial columnist, and State Department official, James K. Glassman has made a career out of taking hard to understand, complex issues and distilling them into plain, clear language. He is widely recognized as an expert on the economy, finance, technology and international affairs, and is the founding executive director of the George W. Bush Institute, an action-oriented think tank that is part of the George W. Bush Presidential Center. He also currently hosts Ideas in Action, a weekly public affairs program broadcast on PBS stations across the country from our nation’s capitol. Glassman wrote the first investing column for Reader’s Digest in the 1970s and went on to write columns for the Washington Post, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, and Forbes.com. He’s written three books on investing, Dow 36,000, with co-author Kevin Hassett; The Secret Code of the Superior Investor, and most recently, Safety Net: The Strategy for De-Risking Your Investments in a Time of Turbulence. Glassman is a former Senior Fellow for the American Enterprise Institute, where his work focused on economics, business and understanding the intersection between policy, finance and technology. He most recently served as the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, where he brought new Internet technology to bear on outreach to foreign republics, and Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, where he directed all non-military, taxpayer-funded U.S. international broadcasting, including Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and Alhurra TV. Read more…

Michael Colopy

Michael Colopy-

Michael Colopy’s presentation method is brain-stretching, enlightening and memorable. Colopy addresses corporate and association audiences on global trends and the challenges US business faces around the world, especially in dealings with China, a country he knows well. In a bracing narrative style, incorporating new developments – including the morning’s news – he conveys deep and broad knowledge, navigating, analyzing and forecasting world currents since 1988. The lively and unrehearsed Q & A portion of his presentations engages audience members directly, customizing the session to the interests of participants. Educated at Princeton, Michael Colopy’s research projects have taken him to Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Ukraine, El Salvador, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, the PRC, France, the UK and Venezuela. Colopy learned through firsthand experience how the attitudes and agendas of other nations can affect the American brand. He understands US government policy processes well, having served as staff in both the US House and Senate, partner in a major DC lobbying firm, consultant to foreign governments and advisor to Fortune One Hundred corporations and trade associations of every stripe. Colopy’s record of accurate predictions stands out; he has anticipated and tracked global trends, regional developments (especially in East Asia), leadership choices, political agendas, economic shifts and currency policies, connecting the dots among such distinct factors as the re-emergence of China’s reformers under Prime Minister Wen Jia-bao, transformation of the labor market, competition for commodity resources, pollution, alarming pressures on US corporations (forced transfers of IP, for example), the Google confrontation, skewing state investments to favor populist programs, the evolving “hostage capital” dilemma and the changing face of internal discontent. Colopy deftly unbraids the intricacies of Japan’s foreign policy, its trade and political disputes with China, the collapse of its economic renewal agenda, the lethargic response of ministries, rising security anxieties and the fundamental crisis of its aging population. He also reviews positive prospects in Vietnam and the Philippines, political re-stabilizing in Thailand and Malaysia, resurgence in Indonesia and the strategically crucial regional role of Australia. Colopy’s dynamic style, recently described as “the antidote to jet lag”, is articulate, clear and directly responsive to his audience. He is especially known for his humorous asides – he offers no feel-good “happy talk” but practical, highly specific and insightful assessments. Michael Colopy readily challenges old orthodoxies when evidence and patterns warrant or to test the validity of a plan or policy. His combination of wit, broad knowledge, practical information and energetic style has impressed hundreds of audiences and earned him among the highest rates of repeat appearance in America. Read more…