Meridian International Center is a nonpartisan, nonprofit diplomacy center founded in 1960 with the vision that greater understanding and collaboration between the United States and the world leads to a more secure and prosperous future for all. Headquartered in Washington, DC, on a four-acre campus with two historic properties, Meridian has long served as a place where global leaders gather, future leaders are found, and international collaboration thrives.

We believe we are stronger at home when globally engaged, so our mission is to strengthen engagement between the U.S. and the world to find solutions on shared global challenges. We do this by partnering with the U.S. government, the private sector, and the diplomatic community on three core pillars of programs:

Global Leadership: Building the next generation of global leaders empowered to create change through exchange and training programs

Culture: Increasing understanding of the United States and other countries through shared interests in art and culture

Collaboration: Strengthening policy decisions and outcomes by accelerating collaboration across borders, industries and sectors

Photo credits courtesy of Stephen Bobb, Jessica Latos, Oskar Dapp, Ben Droz, and Kristoffer Tripplaar.

2021 – 2022 Board of Trustees

• Executive Committee
• The Honorable Ann Stock – Chair of the Board
• The Honorable Stuart W. Holliday – Chief Executive Officer
• The Honorable Fred P. Hochberg – Vice Chair of the Board
• Megan Beyer – Board Secretary

• The Honorable Dwight Bush – Chair of Global Engagement Committee
• Sean C. Cahill – Chair of Facilities and Preservation Committee
• Fred Humphries – Co-Chair of Development Committee
• Soledad Hurst – Chair of Governance and Nominating Committee
• Steven J. Quamme – Chair of Finance and Audit Committee
• Deborah Ashford – Board Counsel

• Robert Abernethy
• Michael Allen
• Bela Bajaria
• David Barrosse
• Joe Daly
• Theresa (Terri) Fariello
• The Honorable Kathryn Walt Hall
• Tom Higgins
• Tim Hwang
• Sue Hostetler Wrigley

• Roy Kapani
• Brad Knox
• Bonnie Larson
• DeDe Lea
• Deborah Lehr
• The Honorable Drew Maloney
• Lisa Osborne Ross
• The Honorable Francisco Sanchez
• The Honorable Daniel W. Yohannes

Meridian spread our diplomatic principles beyond Washington, taking our mission abroad through various new partnerships and initiatives showcasing Meridian on the global stage.

The Meridian Corporate Council traveled to Mexico City, Mexico, to host a public diplomacy panel discussion at the U.S. Mexico Foundation’s North Capital Forum, a three-day event focusing on understanding North America’s main challenges and creating mutually beneficial solutions. Meridian’s panel, “A Modern Diplomat’s Toolbox: How to Use Diplomacy to Further North America’s Identity,” dove into the advantages of public diplomacy across the private sector and civil society, outlining how they can navigate diplomacy as a strategic priority and a non-traditional form of foreign direct investment.

Meridian held a parallel stage at United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York City, hosting H.E. Mario Abdo Benítez, President of Paraguay and The Honorable Scott Nathan, CEO of the Development Finance Corporation, for a conversation at Citi surrounding the state of U.S. – Paraguay relations, Latin American regional development, and the future of investment and trade in the Western Hemisphere. Meridian continued its partnership with Leaders on Purpose, offering a program featuring a keynote address by H.E. Luis Gilberto Murillo, the first public speech as Ambassador of Mexico to the U.S., followed by a fireside chat featuring Mauricio Ramos, CEO of Millicom and facilitated by Ambassador Stuart Holliday.

The Meridian Center for Diplomatic Engagement had the opportunity to travel to Austin, Texas, for our long-awaited SXSW EDU Conference and Festival panel, “American Diplomats Should Look Like America.” Tonija Hope, Director of the Ralph Bunche International Affairs Center at Howard University, Desirée Cormier Smith, Special Representative for Racial Equity And Justice at the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau Of Democracy, Human Rights, And Labor and Natalie Jones, Executive Vice President at Meridian, covered the value and benefits of an American diplomatic corps that reflects the diversity of our country.

Meridian’s annual Diplomacy Forum gathers American and international diplomats, military officials, business leaders, and policy experts to explore trends and challenges in U.S. and international statecraft. This year’s theme tackled areas of limited sovereignty – space, ocean, and the Arctic – showcasing opportunities in international relations and the shifting global order in these increasingly accessible arenas. Science and technological innovation are decreasing entry barriers to space, while climate change is expanding the operability of the Arctic and renewing the focus on our oceans. Taking place on Meridian’s campus for the first time since 2019, the event kicked off with a breakfast discussion for international chiefs of mission on space, Arctic, and maritime diplomacy, followed by afternoon sessions headlined by the Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.

Attendees also had an opportunity to hear from U.S. government officials, such as Audrey Schaffer, Director of Space Policy, National Security Council and J.R. Littlejohn, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs and leading international voices, including Ambassador of Kenya to the U.S., His Excellency Lazarus Amayo; Lisa Koperqualuk, Vice-President (International), Inuit Circumpolar Council – Canada; Jim Taiclet, CEO of Lockheed Martin; and veteran American diplomat Ambassador John Negroponte. The Forum concluded with a networking reception for college students and young professionals to meet and engage with U.S. Foreign and Civil Service Officers and other practitioners who have spent their careers in global affairs.

Meridian believes the backbone of American diplomacy relies on the strength of our people. To continue to build U.S. diplomatic capacity, we must invest in our people to better reflect the diversity of our country and prepare leaders for 21st-century statecraft and knowledge. DiplomacyRISE is Meridian’s investment and solution into strengthening America’s foreign affairs talent ecosystem by developing the next generation of diplomats. This inclusive professional development initiative provides college students and young professionals greater access to critical skills training, career guidance networks, and emerging issue area expertise.

The goals of DiplomacyRISE are twofold: increase diversity in international affairs by creating pipelines to professional development programs at formative and early career levels to build greater access to international affairs from all backgrounds and perspectives and equip diplomats at all levels with the resources, networks, and knowledge to tackle the critical issues of today and tomorrow, including global health, climate change, and emerging technology.

Since launching DiplomacyRISE in April 2021, Meridian has partnered with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the U.S. Department of State, and other institutions to build career development programs and meet with college and university groups on pathways to global affairs positions.

Diplomatic Skills Training for Young Scientists: Meridian partnered with the National Science Policy Network on the Diplomatic Skills Training for Young Scientists course to provide scientists, doctors, engineers, and similar professionals interested in becoming international affairs practitioners with education focused on soft skills that are central to diplomacy, such as cultural competency, protocol, and negotiation.

Summer Mentorship Program: Meridian organizes international affairs workshops as part of the Global Community College Transfers Summer Mentorship Program. Sessions include diplomatic skills trainings, career panel discussions, site visits to federal agencies, networking sessions and more.

Community College Global Affairs Fellowship: Meridian created a paid summer enrichment and mentorship program to expand access to global education opportunities and international affairs careers to community college, transfer, and non-traditional students.

Cultural diplomacy saw a major uptick in 2022 as the world’s shared challenges proved that the arts and culture could bridge divides across people and communities despite other differences.

CULTUREFIX

As a response, Meridian continued to honor the power of the arts and culture through our second annual Culturefix Cultural Diplomacy Awards and Conversations in June. Director of Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art Ngaire Blankenberg, NFT artist Krista Kim, and Dr. David Breslin, Director of Curatorial Initiatives at the Whitney Museum, were among the speakers for the conversations focused on repatriation and museum transparency, the introduction NFTs in the traditional art world and representing indigenous voices. After the morning conversations, the Meridian Cultural Diplomacy Awards were bestowed on Shigeru Ban, world-renowned architect (Japan); Juanma Barrientos, Michelin-star chef (Colombia); Artolution, accepted by co-founder Joel Bergner (U.S.); and Jenny Holzer, critically acclaimed visual artist (U.S.). Each Culturefix awardee demonstrates an ongoing commitment to using the arts and culture to unite people in the U.S. and worldwide, uniquely contributing to greater international cooperation on shared global challenges.

2022 CULTUREFIX AWARDEES

Shigeru Ban, Pritzker Prize-Winning Architect

Juanma Barrientos, Michelin Star and Celebrity Chef

Joel Bergner, Co-Founders of Artolution, Global Art Nonprofit

Jenny Holzer, Ground-breaking Neo-Conceptual Artist

CULTUREXCHANGES

Meridian took cultural diplomacy and the humanities to a new medium via its new cultureXchanges podcast. Supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and hosted by Meridian cultureXchanges dives into the lesser-known stories of cultural diplomacy with experts and scholars from the broader humanities field.

Building peer-to-peer relationships in Washington is crucial for foreign and U.S. diplomats to exchange information and facilitate bilateral cooperation on a wide variety of global issues. Meridian facilitates and supports the building of these relationships through strong convening power built over 60 years.

2022 was an incredibly impactful year of diplomatic convening as Meridian was honored to host receptions for the U.S. Department of State’s Chiefs of Mission conference and the PD Next’22 Workshop for U.S. public diplomacy officers. Held on the first day of the U.S. Chiefs of Mission conference, the reception provided U.S. ambassadors and chargés d’affaires an opportunity to engage with colleagues from around the world, senior State Department officials, and a range of leaders from the private sector and civil society. Secretary of State Antony Blinken provided remarks acknowledging the chiefs of missions’ pivotal role in representing the U.S. and the impact of their work to advance foreign policy goals. Scores of U.S. Chiefs of Mission attended, including U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, The Honorable Bridget Brink; U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, The Honorable Jeff Flake; U.S. Permanent Representative to UN Agencies in Rome, The Honorable Ambassador Cindy McCain; and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations The Honorable Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

Later in the year, the Public Diplomacy Officers’ reception allowed U.S. public diplomacy officers and senior State Department officials to converse with NGO, private sector, and local cultural leaders. Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs, The Honorable Lee Satterfield, provided remarks acknowledging the public diplomacy officers’ work at home and abroad, and their commitment to advancing U.S. foreign policy goals and efforts around preserving cultural heritage.

In addition to the two special convenings, Meridian kept the time-honored tradition of its bi-annual Welcome to Washington reception honoring newly arrived foreign Chiefs of Mission to the U.S., providing them with an opportunity to engage with a cross-section of Washington leaders from the government, business, and policy communities. Meridian welcomed 17 new ambassadors, including the ambassadors from Algeria, Armenia, the Bahamas, Cambodia, Denmark, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Italy, Indonesia, Ireland, Lichtenstein, Mali, Mongolia, Panama, Portugal, the Republic of Korea, Tanzania, and Vietnam.

Meridian believes in the potential for a more significant impact when leadership development programs target young leaders. Throughout 2022, Meridian offered youth leadership development opportunities that directly benefitted over 3,500 fellowship and exchange alumni, empowering students as “agents of change” in their home countries while inspiring many U.S. youth and adults along the way. From our inaugural cohort of the Study of the U.S. Institutes (SUSI) for Student Leaders from Europe, SUSI for Global Leaders, the Pan Africa Youth Leadership Program (PAYLP) and the NEXT30 – Young Leaders of Central Asia program, these programs allowed emerging leaders to gain valuable skills and access to established networks, as well as the resources and insight into critical global issues.

The NEXT30 – YOUNG LEADERS OF CENTRAL ASIA

The NEXT30 – Young Leaders of Central Asia program, funded by the U.S. Department of State, hosted 30 young leaders from five Central Asian countries. Traveling in three cohorts this summer and fall, the group visited three American cities: Washington, DC; Austin, Texas; and San Francisco, California. They networked with their American peers and participated in discussions about start-up culture, female empowerment, independent journalism, and social entrepreneurship.

STUDY OF THE U.S. INSTITUTES

We continued our partnership with the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs via our two SUSI Student Leader programs, welcoming almost 250 international undergraduates to Academic Institutes in the U.S. Some of the curriculum topics included civic engagement, education, the future of work, entrepreneurship, economic development, environmental issues, journalism, media, religious pluralism in the U.S., the rule of law and public service. SUSI students from 56 countries experienced an in-depth investigation into these program themes and enhanced their understanding of American values. The Institutes feature a four-week academic residency that includes community service activities, leadership development sessions, opportunities for interaction with American peers, and excursions of cultural and historical significance.  The residencies are then followed by a Case Study Tour to a geographically and demographically diverse region of the United States, underscoring the above program themes and enriching the participants’ experience.

PAN-AFRICA YOUTH LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

In addition to welcoming two youth cohorts virtually in April and July 2022, Meridian was eager to reconvene the Pan Africa Youth Leadership Program (PAYLP) family from years past.

Meridian launched the first iteration of the IVLP Impact Awards, which allow International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) alumni to administer community impact projects that build on their exchange experience and promote innovative solutions to shared challenges in partnership with the U.S. Department of State. Following an application and selection process, over 220 IVLP alumni from around the globe initiated projects on themes ranging from combatting disinformation, supporting a free press and protecting democratic processes to cybersecurity, STEM and entrepreneurship.

“IVLP Impact Awardees are leveraging connections gained on their IVLP experience to expand healthcare, disarm disinformation, promote shared prosperity, advance climate solutions, and defend human rights. We are honored to support, amplify, and learn from these global leaders and their work to shape a more just and peaceful world,” commented Sarah Gentry, Director of Collaborative Services in Meridian’s Center for Global Leadership.

A portion of the 2022 Impact Awards was reserved for projects that seek to mitigate the human and social impacts of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

2022 was a monumentally important year for the preservation of democracy. Now more than ever, free news outlets across the world have become a vital hub of information ahead of the international elections when distrust in media is on the rise.

Since 2006, Meridian has supported the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Press Center (FPC) reporting tours and media co-ops, implementing over 60 projects annually that bring journalists from across the world to report from the U.S. in an effort to promote the depth, accuracy, and balance of foreign reporting through direct access to authoritative American information sources. In November, Meridian implemented an FPC International Reporting Tour on the 2022 U.S. Midterm Elections, in which 22 radio, print, and broadcast journalists from 22 countries traveled to Arizona and North Carolina for a chance to report on the American democratic process up close. From interviewing election officials, local party leaders, policy experts and candidates at the polls, the journalists gained new perspectives on the U.S. government and reported to their respective countries on a particularly dynamic midterm election cycle.

Simultaneously, the Meridian Center for Diplomatic Engagement hosted preview and post-midterm election discussions with Axios and Punchbowl News, respectively, for international diplomats to get a unique insight into how the results may impact their posts. Conversations covered the impacts of the elections on the American people and the system of government.

As a response to calls to build U.S. capacity and expertise in the areas that will be critical to our national security in the years ahead, Meridian’s 11th Annual Meridian Global Leadership Summit explored the intersection of diplomacy and emerging technology to foster policies that develop trust and allow innovation to flourish, build cyber resilient systems, and devise responsible regulations that ensure transparency and accountability while accelerating economic growth. Among the issues explored were bridging the digital divide, cultivating trust in technology, critical mineral supply chains, responsible uses of A.I., the rise of digital currencies, and building a cybersecurity workforce. The Summit featured 30 speakers on two stages at the U.S. Institute of Peace to an in-person audience of over 240 participants and a global live audience of over 1,000 diplomatic, business and policy leaders. This was its first in-person convening since 2019.

At the Summit, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Cyberspace and Digital Policy Jennifer Bachus announced the Global Emerging Leaders in International Cyberspace Security Fellowship, a new initiative led in partnership with the U.S. Department of State, Meridian, and the Cherokee Nation.

ServiceNow CEO and President Bill McDermott was honored with the Meridian Corporate Leader Award during the program, while Meridian bestowed Confidence Staveley, Executive Director and Founder of the CyberSafe Foundation, the Global Citizen Award. Ms. Staveley recently facilitated CyberSafe Foundation’s collaboration with the United Kingdom government to implement a cybersecurity intervention in response to the heightened cyberattacks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the most prestigious annual events in Washington, DC, the Meridian Ball brings together members of the public and private sectors to celebrate Meridian’s ongoing efforts to prepare leaders for a complex global future. Now in its 54th year, the Ball is known for intimate Ambassador-hosted dinners, in addition to a dinner hosted by Meridian at its White-Meyer House. Following dinner, all guests gather for dancing, dessert, and dialogue at Meridian House, an architectural treasure listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Traditionally held in October, the Ball plays a key role in helping Meridian generate awareness of and support for its mission. Proceeds from the Ball support Meridian’s global leadership exchanges, cultural activities, diplomatic engagement, and seminars.

“Last month’s Meridian Ball was a playful, black-tie take on a county fair — if the fair were full of diplomats, politicians and power brokers. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin greeted well-wishers near the Ferris wheel, White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci posed for selfies by the carousel, and British Ambassador Karen Pierce spent much of the night next to the blue- ribbon pies, surrounded by people eager to meet arguably the most important ambassador in the nation’s capital.”

– Roxanne Roberts, Washington Post

 

“When the Meridian International Center goes big for its annual ball, it goes amusement park big. This year, the 54th Meridian Ball featured a carnival-like atmosphere replete with a carousel and that Ferris wheel – just imagine driving along 16th Street and looking up to see a glittering Ferris wheel smack dab in the middle of D.C.”

– Anna Gawel, The Washington Diplomat

“The Meridian Ball is an increasingly rare opportunity for Washington to come together and set aside differences to celebrate the importance of diplomacy and global collaboration.The ball is a microcosm of Meridian’s mission and work throughout the year to bring leaders together to solve problems.”

– Ambassador Stuart Holliday, CEO of Meridian