Representing a Nation: Women in Diplomacy
The GW Women’s Leadership Program is proud to present Representing a Nation: Women in Diplomacy as our 25th Annual Women’s Leadership Conference panel. Diplomats from around the world will speak to their experiences of leadership, advocacy, and initiative on the international stage.
Please join us on Thursday, April 3rd from 6:00 - 8:30 pm to hear from these extraordinary women. This event is open to all GW students, faculty, staff and alumni. Please fill out this form to indicate your interest!
This discussion will offer a unique window into the lives and careers of women who have shaped global diplomacy. The conversation will explore the inspiring journeys that led these women to the highest levels of international service, as well as the challenges they faced along the way — from navigating male-dominated spaces to representing their countries during moments of global crisis. Through their stories, attendees will gain hopeful, practical insights on leadership, resilience, and the importance of diverse voices in diplomacy.
Conference Itinerary
6:00 pm
Welcome and Introductions
6:15 pm
Panel Discussion featuring Ambassador Gina Abercrombie- Winstanley, Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins, Ambassador Piper Campbell, Deputy Ambassador Ruth Bajada and Dean Alyssa Ayres as moderator
7:45 pm
Reception with Hors D'oeuvres
8:30 pm
End of the WLC 25
Meet the Panelists
Ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley
Ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley is a nonresident senior fellow at the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative of the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Programs and at the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. A thirty-year diplomat, Abercrombie-Winstanley served as the US ambassador to the Republic of Malta and is the person to serve longest in the role. Through a series of senior positions that included advising the commander of US cyber forces on US foreign-policy priorities, expanding US counterterrorism partners and programs as deputy coordinator for counterterrorism, and coordinating the largest evacuation of US citizens from a war zone since World War II, her professional life has played out almost daily in international media. She is the recipient of the Maltese Order of Merit, Foreign Policy for America’s Community Leadership Award, Department of State Meritorious and Superior Honor Awards for acts of courage during an al-Qaeda attack on the US Consulate General in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on December 6, 2004.
Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins
Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins was nominated by President Barack Obama in April 2009 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in June 2009 as the Department of State’s Coordinator for Threat Reduction Programs in the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation. Ambassador Jenkins promotes the coordination of Department of State Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) and U.S. government programs in chemical, biological, nuclear and radiological security (CBRN). She is the U.S. Representative to the Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction and Chaired the Global Partnership in 2012 as well as the Department of State lead on the Nuclear Security Summit, coordinating the Department of State’s activities related to the four-year effort to secure all vulnerable nuclear material. She is currently the Shapiro Visiting Professor at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs.
Ambassador Piper Campbell
Ambassador Piper Campbell is the inaugural Chair of the Department of Foreign Policy and Global Security at American University’s School of International Service (SIS). She also directs SIS’s ASEAN and IndoPacific Studies Initiative. She joined AU in 2020 after a distinguished 30-year diplomatic career, which included serving as Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Ulaanbaatar, Consul General in Basrah, Iraq, and head of the U.S. Mission to ASEAN in Jakarta, Indonesia. Ambassador Campbell also has extensive teaching experience, including at the National Defense University’s
National War College and the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute. She retired from the State Department in 2019 with the rank of Minister Counselor, leaving behind a legacy of expertise in East Asian affairs and multilateral diplomacy.
Deputy Ambassador Ruth Bajada
Ruth Bajada is the Deputy Head of the EU Delegation in Washington. Ms. Bajada has over 23 years of experience in EU affairs and 20 years in foreign policy. Between 2020-2024, she was the Deputy Director/Head of Division United States and Canada in the European External Action Service (EEAS). She has also served as the Political Advisor to the EEAS Secretary General (2019-2020) and was posted in Chile (2015-2019) and Lebanon (2012-2015). Ms. Bajada joined the European institutions in 2002 and worked at the European Parliament and the Secretariat General of the Council of Ministers. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Malta, a master's degree in European studies from the College of Europe (Bruges-Belgium), and a master's degree in International Relations from ULB/Paris II.
Moderator - Dean Alyssa Ayres
Alyssa Ayres was appointed dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs and professor of history and international affairs at George Washington University effective February 1, 2021. She is the first woman to serve in the role of permanent dean at the school. Ayres is a foreign policy practitioner and award-winning author with senior experience in the government, nonprofit, and private sectors. From 2013 to 2021, she was senior fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), where she remains an adjunct senior fellow, and from 2010 to 2013, served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia. Her work focuses primarily on India’s role in the world and on U.S. relations with South Asia in the larger Indo-Pacific. Her book about India’s rise on the world stage, Our Time Has Come: How India is Making Its Place in the World, was published by Oxford University Press in 2018 and was selected by the Financial Times for its “Summer 2018: Politics” list.