Join SPP for a candid conversation with a panel of development and diplomacy professionals who have been on the frontlines of dramatic changes internationally and within the US State Department and United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Drawing on their experiences over the past fifteen months, panelists will reflect on the personal and professional challenges they have faced and what these shifts mean for the future. This discussion will also explore how their skills, commitment, and experience remain relevant in the diplomacy and development contexts, but also the ways in which these attributes travel the broader sphere of public policy, from the local to the global.
Dinner will be provided.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:
Anne Dix is a former career U.S. Senior Foreign Service officer (Counselor) who served with USAID for over 25 years, working on health, infrastructure, education, water, environment, agriculture and natural resources programs. Dr. Dix was the USAID Country Representative for Botswana, where she was the US Ambassador’s Development Advisor for Botswana and the South African Development Commission (SADC). Prior to Botswana, Dr. Dix was the Director of USAID’s Office of American Schools and Hospitals abroad, USAID’s largest Public Diplomacy Program. In Afghanistan, she led the Infrastructure Division, USAID’s largest on-budget program at the time with a running pipeline of US$2.4 billion. Dr. Dix holds a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Georgia and a BA from Mount Holyoke College and speaks Spanish and French.
Susan Ross is a former public diplomacy-coned Foreign Service officer who served in Suriname, Chile, Malta, Pakistan, Colombia, Tunisia, Ecuador and Micronesia, working in public affairs, consular affairs, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), and the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM). In Washington, she worked in press and public diplomacy in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs (SCA), focusing on countering disinformation, the Summit for Democracy and P1/P2 visas for partners in Afghanistan. She also served as a public diplomacy country desk officer for countries in South Asia. Before joining the Foreign Service, Ross was a professor of communication theory at Hamilton College in New York. She has held two Fulbright grants, one as a student in Germany and one as a lecturer in Pune, India.
Ariana Scurti MPP '19 serves as a Senior Budget Analyst in the District of Columbia’s Office of the City Administrator within the Executive Office of the Mayor. In this role, she supports strategic budgeting and resource allocation to advance the Mayor’s policy priorities across a $4 billion annual portfolio. Prior to joining District government, Ariana worked at USAID, where she most recently spearheaded a $700 million annual budget formulation process. She also served as a Desk Officer in the Central America office and as a Program Officer in the Democracy, Human Rights and Governance Center. Her federal experience also includes roles at the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation and the Millennium Challenge Corporation. Ariana holds an MPP from UMD, where she was a Robertson Fellow. Ariana is about halfway through visiting every Major League Baseball ballpark. (Go Red Sox!)
Jorge Ugaz is a development and health economist with over 18 years of experience working at the intersection of global health, public policy and international development. He has recently worked with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and also developed a career leading USG-funded global projects with Palladium Group, Mathematica Policy Research, and Abt Global across Latin America, Africa and Asia. His work has focused on health finance, health system strengthening and pandemic preparedness. Jorge has advised Ministries of Health and Finance on policy reforms, resource allocation and program implementation in complex country settings. He began his career in Lima, Peru, and is currently based in Washington, D.C.