The Foreign Service Journal, September 2021

AFSA NEWS 58 SEPTEMBER 2021 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Meet the 2021-2023 AFSA Governing Board The American Foreign Service Association is proud to intro- duce the elected officers and representatives of the 2021- 2023 Governing Board. The AFSA Governing Board meets on the third Wednesday of each month from 12 to 1:30 p.m. at AFSA headquarters. AFSA members are welcome to attend any board meetings. ERIC RUBIN PRESIDENT Eric Rubin is beginning his second term as AFSA president. He served as U.S. ambas- sador to Bulgaria from 2016 to 2019. Previ- ous positions include deputy chief of mis- sion in Moscow, deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs, consul general in Chiang Mai, executive assistant to the under secretary for political affairs, assistant White House press secretary and National Security Council director for public affairs, and Rusk Fellow at George- town University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. Amb. Rubin joined the Foreign Service in 1985 and holds the rank of Career Minister in the Senior Foreign Service. In 1994 he was a recipient of a groupWilliam R. Rivkin Award for Construc- tive Dissent by Mid-Level Officers for his work on the Bosnia crisis. Amb. Rubin is a former member of The Foreign Service Journal’s Editorial Board and a careerlong AFSAmember. DANIEL CROCKER SECRETARY Daniel Crocker is the chief executive officer of Veracity Worldwide, a boutique advisory firm that helps clients make investment decisions in challenging markets. A retired Foreign Service officer with the U.S. Depart- ment of Commerce, he has more than 20 years of experience promoting and defending U.S. economic security through assignments inWashington, Europe and Latin America. Mr. Crocker’s most recent assignment was as deputy assistant secretary for Europe and Eurasia at Commerce. He served on AFSA’s Governing Board previously, as vice presi- dent for the Foreign Commercial Service, and is currently on the Editorial Board of The Foreign Service Journal . Prior to his diplomatic career, Mr. Crocker worked in engineering management positions at Accel, Sequoia and Benchmark-funded tech startups; in manufacturing; and in oil and gas exploration in the United States and Africa. He holds business, foreign affairs and engineering degrees fromMIT, the University of Virginia and Princeton, and he speaks Spanish. JOHN O’KEEFE TREASURER Ambassador (ret.) John O’Keefe served for 32 years in the Foreign Service, begin- ning in Moscow as a general services officer. On retirement from the Foreign Service in 2007, he headed the Open World Leadership Center, a legislative branch agency, for 10 years, then served for two years as counselor to the board of trustees. Amb. O’Keefe expanded the center’s programs from Russia and Ukraine to all countries of the former Soviet Union, the Balkans, Turkey and Mongolia. He joined the Wilson Center as a Global Fellow in 2019. As ambassador to Kyrgyzstan from 2000 to 2003, he negotiated the treaty allowing coalition forces to establish a base there to support operations in Afghanistan. From 2003 to 2004, he headed the Office of Career Development and from 2004 to 2006 was deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Human Resources, serving as acting Director General of the Foreign Service. Amb. O’Keefe has received the Distinguished Honor Award, the Replogle Award for Management Improvement and, the Presidential Meritorious Service Award, as well as several Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards. The Ameri- can University of Central Asia awarded him the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters. He is married to Monica O’Keefe, a retired public diplomacy officer. THOMAS YAZDGERDI DEPARTMENT OF STATE VICE PRESIDENT A member of the Senior Foreign Service, Tom Yazdgerdi served as special envoy for Holocaust issues in the European and Eurasian Bureau at the Department of State before joining the AFSA Governing Board in 2019. Mr. Yazdgerdi has served as director of the Office of South Central European Affairs, political counselor at U.S. Embassy Kabul, head of U.S. Consulate Kirkuk and deputy political counselor for Iran affairs at U.S. Embassy Baghdad. He also served as deputy chief of mission and political-economic chief at U.S. Embassy Pristina during the run-up to and after- math of Kosovo independence. Other assignments include Panama City, Bratislava, Tirana and Athens, as well as positions in the European Bureau (Czech desk) and the Political-Military Affairs Bureau, and as senior Balkans program officer with the