The Foreign Service Journal, September 2017

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2017 73 AFSA NEWS STEVEN HERMAN BBG REPRESENTATIVE Steven L. Herman is the White House bureau chief for the Voice of America. The veteran correspondent has been a member of the Foreign Service since 2007, when he was named VOA’s South Asia bureau chief, based in New Delhi. Subse- quent overseas posts include Seoul and Bangkok. Mr. Herman returned to the United States in 2016 to cover diplomacy, based at the State Department, before moving to cover the new administration shortly after the inauguration. Mr. Herman spent 16 years living in Tokyo and working in media before joining VOA as a staff correspondent. A former news reporter for the Associated Press, he began his career in radio and television news in Las Vegas, Nevada. Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, he is a graduate of Thomas Edison State University and holds an M.A. in public diplomacy from Mountain State University. Mr. Herman is a former president of both the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan and the Seoul Foreign Corre- spondents’ Club. He is also a governor of the Overseas Press Club of America. He ran for office with AFSA because he “felt an obligation to ensure that BBG/IBB/VOA members of the Foreign Service have representation.” JOHN ( J . J . ) HURLEY APHIS REPRESENTATIVE John (J.J.) Hurley joined the U.S. Depart- ment of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in 2002. In 2006 he joined the APHIS Foreign Service. He has held overseas assignments in Panama and Guatemala, where he was responsible for overseeing binational and multilateral programs control- ling insect pests affecting animal and plant health. Mr. Hurley currently serves in Washington, D.C., with APHIS’ Trade Support Team, handling sanitary and phytos- anitary trade issues for Latin America. Prior to joining APHIS he was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras. J.J. grew up in a Foreign Service family and gained youthful experience work- ing in several embassies. He and his wife have four children. AMBASSADOR ALPHONSE LA PORTA RETIREE REPRESENTATIVE During 38 years in the Foreign Service, Ambassador (ret.) Al La Porta served as ambassador to Mongolia, political adviser to the commander of NATO forces in Southern Europe, executive director to the special envoy for the Multilateral Assistance Initiative and director of the Office of Cambodian Genocide Investigations. He earned a B.A. from Georgetown University and master’s degrees from New York University and the National War College. Since retiring in 2003, Amb. La Porta chaired the South- east Asia area studies course at the Foreign Service Insti- tute, serves part-time in the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs and is a consultant on Asian affairs to the U.S. Pacific Command in Honolulu, Hawaii. Since 2009 he has advised the Joint Staff/J7 and the U.S. Africa Command, headquartered in Germany, regarding military exercise pro- grams. In 2008-2009, he served as chief of party for Develop- ment Alternatives International on a USAID project to advise the foreign ministry in Pristina, Kosovo. Amb. La Porta served as president of AFSA in 1997, and served as State vice president before that. He was first elected as a retiree representative in 2015. PH I L I P SHUL L RETIREE REPRESENTATIVE Philip Shull retired in 2016 after 31 years with the Foreign Agricultural Service. A native of Wooster, Ohio, his interest in food security and international relations was sparked from living as a boy in India, where he saw severe malnutrition. Mr. Shull’s work maximizing exports of U.S. food and agricultural products and promoting global food secu- rity included trade negotiations, capacity building, food safety, biotechnology, marketing and promotion, scientific exchange and economic analysis. His overseas assign- ments included Korea, Argentina (including Uruguay and Paraguay), Hong Kong, Philippines and three tours in China. His final position was minister counselor for agriculture in Beijing. Mr. Shull ran for AFSA office for many reasons, among them to use his private-sector contacts to promote public support for the Foreign Service, particularly in the heart- land; to defend the Foreign Service against unjustified resource cuts; to help ensure our Foreign Service continues to promote the full range of our traditional diplomatic and economic interests; and to create opportunities for retirees to demonstrate the value of the Foreign Service by sharing their knowledge, experience and insights in universities and other forums. n