The Expanding Role of Women in International Affairs

World Trade Center
World Trade Center of New Orleans
of New Orleans

Louisiana World Trade Web

“The Expanding Role of Women in International Affairs”

A Luncheon Program commemorating
International Women’s Day

and featuring

Ambassador Mary A. Ryan
Assistant Secretary of State and
the highest ranking career diplomat
in the U.S. Foreign Service

Thursday, March 8, 2001

12:00 Noon
(11:30 a.m. cash bar networking reception)
The Plimsoll Club, 30th Floor
World Trade Center of New Orleans
(Free validated parking in the WTC Garage)

Mary A. Ryan is the Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs. She assumed these duties on May 12, 1993. Ambassador Ryan, who entered the Foreign Service in 1966, began her career as Rotational Officer in Naples. She then served as Personnel Officer in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and as Consular Officer at the Consulate General in Monterrey, Mexico. Her succeeding tours of duty were as Roving Administrative Officer for Africa and as Post Management Officer in the Bureau of African Affairs in Washington. She went on to become Career Development Officer in the Bureau of Personnel. Returning overseas in 1980, she served as Administrative Counselor at U.S. embassies in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and Khartoum, Sudan. Ambassador Ryan has also been a Foreign Service Inspector and the Executive Director of the Bureau of European and Canadian Affairs. She was Executive Assistant to the Under Secretary for Management for three years immediately before being assigned as Ambassador to Swaziland in 1988.

Returning to Washington in 1990, Ambassador Ryan served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Consular Affairs. Assigned as Director of the Kuwait Task Force following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, she served in this capacity until her assignment to the United Nations Special Commission on the Elimination of Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction, as the Commission’s first

Director of Operations. She returned from New York to take up her duties as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of European and Canadian Affairs in the fall of 1991.

Ambassador Ryan was the recipient of the Presidential Distinguished Service Award in 1998 and 1992, and the Arnold L. Raphel Award in 1996. She was promoted to Career Minister in 1992 and Career Ambassador in 1999. She is currently the only member of the Foreign Service holding this latter rank. Ambassador Ryan was born in New York City and has B.A. and M.A. degrees from St. John’s University in New York.

Sponsoring Organizations

Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrère and Denègre
Louisiana Department of Economic Development
McDermott International, Inc.
New Orleans Aviation Board
New Orleans U.S. Export Assistance Center
Safe Haven Enterprises, Inc.
Tulane University, Department of Political Science
United Parcel Service
World Trade Center of New Orleans

In Cooperation With

American Business Women’s Association, A La Bas Chapter
Ark-La-Tex Regional Export & Technology Center
Baton Rouge Center for World Affairs
City of New Orleans, Office of International Relations
Consular Corps of New Orleans
Crescent City Consultants
Foreign Relations Association of New Orleans
French-American Chamber of Commerce (LA)
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Louisiana
International Association of Administrative Professionals, NOLA Chapter
International Freight Forwarders & Customs Brokers Association
International Trade Council/Red River Region
Junior League of New Orleans
Louisiana District Export Council
Louisiana International Trade Center/SBDC
Louisiana International Trade Commission
Louisiana Tax Free Shopping
National Council of Negro Women
New Orleans Media Center
Louisiana Technology Council
United Nations Association of Greater New Orleans
Women’s Professional Council
World Trade Club of Greater New Orleans

Advance registration required by March 7, 10:00 a.m.
Registration Fee: $25 for members of the sponsoring organizations and $30 for non-members. If you are a WTC member, the registration fee can be charged to your account number noted on the registration form.

All registrations on this site are done over a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) line.

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