Keynote Panelists' Biographies |
Ambassador Wilfried Bolewski
Ambassador Bolewski gained extensive multilateral security experience at the NATO Nuclear Planning Group, the UN-Conference on Disarmament and the NATO Defense College Rome. Parallel to his diplomatic career, Ambassador Bolewski pursued an academic career teaching Diplomacy at the faculties of law and political science of the Freie Universit盲t Berlin and at the Hertie School of Governance Berlin. He now teaches at Sciences Po Paris as well as at the American University of Paris and at the Acad茅mie Diplomatique Internationale in Paris. Professor Bolewski has published widely in German, English and French on International Law, Diplomacy and Protocol. He lectures on new dimensions of diplomacy, including the role of multinational corporations and non-state actors. He continues to work on the interface of diplomacy in a globalizing world and its application by private actors such as transnational companies (Corporate Diplomacy). Source: Philip Breeden
Philip Breeden is a senior American diplomat with 26 years experience creating and directing cultural and educational exchange programs, and leading press operations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Mr. Breeden joined the Foreign Service of the United States Information Agency in 1986. He served in Public Diplomacy positions in Turkey (Ankara, Istanbul), Madagascar (Antananarivo), the United States (Washington, D.C.), the United Kingdom (London), and Tunisia (Tunis) before becoming the Consul General in Marseille, France in 2005 and the Press Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in London, UK in 2008. In September 2011, Mr. Breeden was appointed Minister Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, where he works to explain and advocate American policy and to promote mutual understanding between the French and American people. With two offices (the Press and Information Office and the Culture and Education Office), the Public Affairs section led by Mr. Breeden acts as a focal point for media, think tanks, and academic and cultural institutions, and advises the Embassy on public diplomacy issues. Mr. Breeden has been the recipient of numerous awards including a Superior Honor Award for his public diplomacy efforts in Tunisia, and the 鈥淧almes Acad茅miques鈥� for his work with high schools in France. He speaks French, Arabic and Turkish. He holds a B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University and a M.A.L.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He is married to the artist and designer Laurence Breeden and they have two sons, Aur茅lien and Tristan. Ambassador Dominique Dreyer
Dominique Dreyer is a Swiss career diplomat with particular expertise on Far-East and South Asia. Speaking Chinese, he spent sixteen years in China in three sucessive assignments. He also served in Japan and France as Deputy Chief of Mission. Mr. Dreyer was Ambassador of Switzerland to China, Mongolia and the People's Democratic Republic of Korea, based in Peking (2000-2004), and Ambassador to India, Nepal and Bhutan, based in New Delhi (2000-2004). During his diplomatic career, Ambassador Dreyer has held several Minister and Counselor Positions at the Swiss Embassies in Japan, France and China. He also served at the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in Berne, working on Middle-East Affairs and Political Secretariat at the Political Division II. Ambassador Dreyer fluently speaks English, French, German and Mandarin. He holds a Bachelor's of Law and a Ph.D. from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, and completed his post-graduate studies in International Law at Cambridge University in the UK. Ambassador Dreyer is a faculty member at the American Graduate School in Paris, where he teaches the course on Pacific Asia since World War II. Ambassador Samira Hanna-el-Daher
Ambassador Hanna-el-Daher has held several capacities at UNESCO, including Ambassador of Lebanon, Permanent Representative of Lebanon to the Executive Board, President of the G77 and China Groups, President of the Special Committee of UNESCO, and President of the Finance and Administration Commission. As representative of Lebanon to Francophonie (Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie), she participated as an election observer in Mauritania and Chad, and was part of the reflection group on Ivory Coast, Togo and Haiti. She was also president of the political, economic and cultural diversity commissions for the Francophonie. Ambassador Hanna-el-Daher has actively participated in efforts for international peace and cooperation, serving as a member of the Panel of High Personalities for South-South Cooperation of G77, as well as a member of the Mediterranean Peace Forum, of the European Union Conflict Prevention workshops, and with HELIO, an French-based environmental NGO. Ambassador El-Daher has chaired and participated in many conferences and symposia on dialogue of civilizations, cultural diversity, Middle-East issues, women in the Arab world, among others. She has published several articles and prepared for UNESCO a handbook for teachers on disarmament. Samira Hanna-el-Daher holds a degree in Lebanese Law from the Lebanese University in Beirut, as well as French degrees in Public Law (Universit茅 de Lyon) and Political Science and Public Law (Universit茅 Paris IX-Dauphine), and a diploma in Public Speaking from New York University (USA). Ambassador Hanna-el-Daher is a faculty member at the American Graduate School in Paris, where she teaches the courses on International Organizations and on Foreign Policy Formulation and Diplomacy. Serge Schmemann
Previously Mr. Schmemann served as deputy foreign editor at The New York Times since August 1999 after having served as a reporter on the metropolitan desk since September 1998. Before that he served as Jerusalem bureau chief from July 1995 until September 1998 and as the Moscow bureau chief from March 1992 until February 1994, after having returned to Moscow as a correspondent in January 1991. Prior to that, he served as bureau chief in Bonn since May 1987 and as a foreign correspondent in Moscow from April 1981 until May 1987. Mr. Schmemann joined The Times as a metropolitan reporter in December 1980 after having worked for eight years with the Associated Press. In 2003 Mr. Schmemann won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Writing 鈥� "Mortal Enemies," a documentary depicting the parallel lives of Yasir Arafat and Ariel Sharon, produced by New York Times Television for the Discovery Channel. Mr. Schmemann was educated at The Kent School in Connecticut. He received a B.A. degree in English from Harvard University in 1967 and an M.A. degree in Slavic studies from Columbia University in 1971. Serge Schmemann is the author of two books: When the Wall Came Down: The Berlin Wall and the Fall of Soviet Communism (Kingfisher and New York Times Books, New York: 2007) and Echoes of a Native Land: Two Centuries of a Russian Village (Knopf, New York: 1997) Mr. Schmemann serves on the Advisory Board of the American Graduate School in Paris. Source: The New York Times Company () |
A lawyer by training, Wilfried Bolewski worked as legal advisor at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Geneva before starting a diplomatic career that led him to serve in Italy, Poland, Australia, Cameroon and Pakistan. Mr. Bolewski has also served as German Ambassador to Jamaica, Belize and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, and as Germany鈥檚 Permanent Representative to the International Sea-Bed Authority in Kingston, Jamaica. He was also Deputy Chief of Protocol for Chancellors Gerhard Schr枚der and Angela Merkel and as German Foreign Office Special Representative for Universities and Foundations at the Foreign Service Academy Berlin.
A career diplomat, Ambassador Samira Hanna-el-Daher was the first woman ever appointed Ambassador of Lebanon to any country, and the first woman Ambassador to Japan from any country. She also served as Head of Mission in China, Australia, and Great Britain, and Ambassador to the Philippines, Switzerland, and Cyprus. Her diplomatic career also includes positions as Consul General in New York and Legal Advisor of the Lebanese Permanent Mission to the United Nations. Before her appointments abroad, s
Serge Schmemann, a 1991 Pulitzer Prize winner in international reporting for coverage of the reunification of Germany, became editorial page editor for the International Herald Tribune in May 2003. Since March 2001 Mr. Schmemann had been a senior foreign affairs writer based in New York and writer for the United Nations bureau covering regular news analyses, news articles and takeouts on major international issues.