AFSA NEWS AFSA NEWSTHE OFFICIAL RECORD OF THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION AFSA Awards Honor Excellence and Constructive Dissent CALENDAR Please check afsa.org/events for the most up-to-date information. December 11 12-1:30 p.m. AFSA Governing Board Meeting December 11 4:30-6:30 p.m. Member Happy Hour December 25 Christmas AFSA Offices Closed January 1 New Year’s Day AFSA Offices Closed January 7 12-1:30 p.m. AFSA Governing Board Meeting January 30 12-1 p.m. Welcome Lunch for USAID C3-39 For more than 50 years, AFSA has been proud to highlight achievement, courage, and sacrifice within the Foreign Service community through its awards program. This year, AFSA hosted the annual awards ceremony on Oct. 16 in the State Department’s Dean Acheson Auditorium. Approximately 250 guests gathered to recognize the winners of the 2024 awards for constructive dissent and outstanding performance and the recipient of AFSA’s Foreign Service Champions Award, as well as to honor this year’s recipient of the Award for Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy. AFSA presented 11 awards in all; profiles of the winners begin on page 22. AFSA President Tom Yazdgerdi served as emcee for a distinguished audience; in attendance were many former recipients of AFSA’s Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy Award, including Ambassadors Ruth A. Davis, Ron Neumann, John Negroponte, Anne Patterson, Nancy Powell, and Tom Pickering. Other VIPs in attendance were former Secretary of Defense William Cohen, Acting Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs John Bass, Executive Secretary Dereck Hogan, Under Secretary for Economic Growth, THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2024 57 AFSA award recipients at State, Oct. 16. Top row, from left: Konrad Turski, Cornell Overfield, Amb. Laura Dogu, David Houston, Christophe J. Paccard, Mark Delavan Harrop, Paul Estrada, and Amb. Marc Grossman. Bottom row, from left: Mark Wilson, Emily Green, Sherri Zimmermann, Harry Kopp, Mariya Ilyas, Patricia Scroggs, and Tom Yazdgerdi. AFSA/JOAQUIN SOSA Continued on page 62 Energy, and the Environment Jose W. Fernandez, and Director of the Foreign Service Institute Joan Polaschik. Family members and colleagues of the 2024 recipients and senior State officials, such as Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Richard Verma and Director General of the Foreign Service Marcia Bernicat—the co-host of the event—were also in attendance. Award winners traveled to the ceremony from all over the world. They each gave brief remarks as they accepted their awards. The ceremony was followed by a reception in the State Department’s Delegates Lounge. AFSA congratulates all the 2024 award recipients. Lifetime Contributions Deputy Secretary Richard Verma presented the 2024 Award for Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy to Ambassador Marc Grossman for his long and distinguished career in the U.S. Foreign Service, and for his efforts to enhance diplomatic readiness and to reform and strengthen the Foreign Service. In accepting the award, Amb. Grossman thanked his family, friends, AFSA, and several organizations that have been part of his journey, including the Senior Living
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