Nicholas Eftimiades recently retired from the US Department of Defense. His 34 year government career included working at CIA, US Department of State/Diplomatic Security Service and Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). His career included overseas postings to Moscow, Frankfurt, London, and Tokyo. Nick's more notable assignments include Chief of DIA's Counterterrorism Operations, Senior Technical Officer of […]

John Walsh, director, president and chief executive officer of UGI Corporation, will speak about the “Future of Energy” at the Wednesday, Feb. 10 program of the Word Affairs Council of Greater Reading. The virtual program begins at noon and will end around 1:30 p.m. Walsh has been president and a director of UGI since 2005 […]

Adam S. Wilczewski brings two decades of experience in business, government, politics,fundraising, and law, with a special focus on assisting clients in their domestic andinternational business development and fund-raising needs. He is known for his ability to turn around and grow organizations, build and motivate high-performing teams,  increase organizational capacity, and enhance accountability. Adam serves various clients […]

Nicholas Kralev is an author, journalist and entrepreneur specializing in diplomacy and international affairs, whose work of more than 20 years has taken him to almost 100 countries. He is the executive director of the Washington International Diplomatic Academy, an independent organization that provides practical professional training in diplomacy and international affairs. A former Financial […]

Ambassador Ray is member of the Board of Trustees at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He served as U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Republic of Zimbabwe. In addition, he was the first U.S. Consul General to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, opening the Consulate General there in 1998. Prior to this, […]

William Pomeranz is the Deputy Director of the Kennan Institute, a part of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars located in Washington, D.C.  He also has taught Russian law at the Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies (CERES), Georgetown University.  He hold a B.A. from Haverford College, a M.Sc. from the University […]

Melissa Deehring is a licensed attorney in the State of California and works as a Clinical Assistant Professor and the founding director/creator of the Externship Program at Qatar University College of Law in Doha, Qatar. Since 2011, Melissa has negotiated agreements with more than 115 legal employers in Doha, developed clinical curricula, and taught legal […]

Joseph Braude, founder and president of the Center for Peace Communications, studied Near Eastern Languages at Yale and Arabic and Islamic history at Princeton. He is fluent in Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian. Over the past 20 years, he has lived and worked in North Africa, the Levant, the Gulf states, and Iran. His most recent […]

Dr. Kupchan will discuss the potential course of U.S. foreign policy after four years of the Trump Administration's America First approach. Drawing on both U.S. history and an assessment of the emerging geopolitical landscape, he will discuss what aspects of Trump's statecraft President Biden should reject, what aspects he should retain, and how the Biden […]