Richard Boly is a former career U.S. diplomat and former Director of the Office of eDiplomacy, [1] an applied technology think tank for the U.S. Department of State. Previously, he was a National Security Affairs Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, [2] where he launched the Global Entrepreneurship Program. [3]
Representing the U.S. Department of State, he served in the U.S. Embassy, Rome, where he developed and ran a program to promote entrepreneurship in Italy. [4] Richard Boly has also worked at U.S. Embassies in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Paraguay. While working as the Embassy's economic and commercial attaché in Asuncion, he leveraged modest program funds to sponsor a seminar for local judges and prosecutors to demonstrate how Paraguayan copyright law could be applied to software piracy. In his monograph "Commercial Diplomacy and the National Interest" (Business Council for International Understanding, 2004, 77–79) Harry W. Kopp details Boly's efforts to persuade Paraguayian judges and prosecutors to enforce Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in Paraguay. Boly persuaded Paraguayan Supreme Court judges and other law enforcement officials to address bribery and corruption. [5]
Richard Boly is the most junior diplomat to win the Cobb Award for commercial diplomacy. in 2012, he received the Security and International Affairs Medal, one of the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals. [6]
Other professional accomplishments include an assignment as the first Presidential Management Fellow with the Inter-American Foundation. Boly was a consultant with the Inter-American Development Bank.
A proponent of fostering global entrepreneurs as an element of U.S. foreign policy, Boly developed and managed a program, "Partnership for Growth", [7] in Italy [8] to promote entrepreneurship in Italy by expanding access to venture capital. [9] [10] [11] the 1990s, Boly founded and ran a shrimp hatchery in coastal Ecuador. During service in the United States Peace Corps, Boly worked with local residents on micro-business projects. [12]
Large organizations coalease into risk-averse environments slow to address challenges. Government agencies typically follow a course of inaction born of suspicion for change and no requirement for accountability. [13] Leading organizational culture change requires communication, champions and resources. Managing change that sticks involves developing a common team language, shared productivity expectations and may require acceptance of interim setbacks while trending to success. [14]
Managing a team of diverse and confident tech creators, as well as the requisite group of experienced bureaucrats, offered Boly the opportunity to apply egalitarian communication to a previously stove-piped, status-fixated information environment. By modeling change processes to staff and others, his management experiments offer a path to other government leaders in the digital era. [15]
Using social media for 21st century diplomacy carries a certain element of risk. "It's better to launch and learn and be a bit more entrepreneurial, without worrying that the stakes are too high," says Richard Boly, State's director of eDiplomacy. [16] During interviews, [17] Boly advances the notion of civil society, global open government and collaboration among U.S. government agencies. Boly leads the team charged with developing the technical tools and training expertise to enable the U.S. Department of State to use professional networking platforms, [18] [19] blogs, wikis and image sharing, to list just a few 21st century communications tools, effective and efficient government has an opportunity to thrive. Diplomacy, the method through which governments communicate officially, is well served by new media.
In practice, changing federal government employee habits and mindsets from a "need to know, to a need to share" culture takes dedication and creativity. “it’s fundamental to what we do,” Boly says. “If you don’t collaborate and share internally, you’re never going to share externally." [20] As Director of the U.S. State Department's Office of eDiplomacy, Boly promotes the practical advantages of using social media for collaboration as well as the underlying philosophy of government transparency through use of collaborative online platforms.
Boly is a graduate of Stanford University and the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at UCSD.
The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nations, its primary duties are advising the U.S. president on international relations, administering diplomatic missions, negotiating international treaties and agreements, and representing the U.S. at the United Nations. The department is headquartered in the Harry S Truman Building, a few blocks from the White House, in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C.; "Foggy Bottom" is thus sometimes used as a metonym.
The United States Department of Commerce (DOC) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for business and government decision making, and helping to set industrial standards. Its main purpose is to create jobs, promote economic growth, encourage sustainable development and block harmful trade practices of other nations. It is headed by the Secretary of Commerce, who reports directly to the President of the United States and is a member of the president's Cabinet. The Department of Commerce is headquartered in the Herbert C. Hoover Building in Washington, D.C.
The United States Commercial Service (CS) is the trade promotion arm of the U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration. CS is a part of the U.S. Foreign Service and its commercial officers are diplomats. The CS global network of trade professionals helps thousands of U.S. companies to export goods and services worth billions of dollars every year. CS trade specialists are located throughout the United States, as well as in U.S. embassies and consulates in over 75 countries around the world. The mission of CS is to advance and protect strategic U.S. commercial and economic interests around the world.
The Office of eDiplomacy is an applied technology think tank for the United States Department of State. The Office of eDiplomacy is staffed by Foreign and Civil Service Officers, as well as contract professionals. There are four branches: the Diplomatic Innovation Division (DID), the Knowledge Leadership Division (KLD), the Customer Liaison Division (CLD), and the Business Requirements Unit (BRU).
The U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP) supports the department's public diplomacy efforts by providing and supporting the places, content, and infrastructure needed for sustained conversations with foreign audiences. It was headed by the Coordinator for International Information Programs. IIP was one of three bureaus that report to the Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Bureau of Public Affairs were the sister bureaus. On May 28, 2019, the bureau merged with the Bureau of Public Affairs into the Bureau of Global Public Affairs, and the duties of the Coordinator merged into the duties of the Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs.
The American Academy of Diplomacy is a private, nonprofit, non-partisan, elected organization whose active membership is limited to men and women who have held positions of high responsibility in crafting and implementing American foreign policy. They have served the United States as chiefs of mission in major embassies abroad, and/or equivalent high-level foreign policy positions in Washington.
Steve Blank is an American entrepreneur, educator, author and speaker based in Pescadero, California.
The United States and Paraguay have an extensive relationship at the government, business, and personal level. Paraguay is a partner in hemispheric initiatives to improve counter narcotics cooperation, combat money laundering, human trafficking, and other illicit cross-border activities, and adequately protect intellectual property rights. The United States looks to Paraguay, which has tropical forest and riverine resources, to engage in hemispheric efforts to ensure sustainable development. The United States and Paraguay also cooperate in international organizations.
Tara L. Lemméy is an American entrepreneur, inventor, designer, technology expert, and innovation strategist. She is CEO and founder of LENS Ventures, an innovation and investment firm based in San Francisco. Lemméy was named one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2013 by Fast Company (magazine) and one of the MCP 1000: The Most Creative People in Business. She is an inventor with over seventy US and international utility and design patents.
Discovery Park is a 40-acre (160,000 m2) multidisciplinary research park located in Purdue University's West Lafayette campus in the U.S. state of Indiana. Tomás Díaz de la Rubia, an energy and resources industry executive who also spent a decade as a top scientist and administrator at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, serves as Discovery Park's Vice President.
The Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR) is a study by the United States Department of State, conducted beginning in 2009 and intended to be done every four years, that analyzes the short-, medium-, and long-term blueprint for the United States' diplomatic and development efforts abroad. It seeks to plan on a longer-term basis than the usual year-to-year, appropriations-based practice, and to integrate diplomacy and development missions. It similarly seeks to correlate the department’s missions with its capacities and identify shortfalls in resourcing. Finally, it is a precursor to core institutional reforms and corrective changes. The first review was completed by the end of 2010. A second review began during 2014 and was released in April 2015. No further reviews have taken place.
Christopher M. Schroeder is an American entrepreneur, advisor, author, and investor in interactive technologies and social communications.
In his "A New Beginning" speech on June 4, 2009, at Cairo University in Cairo, Egypt, President of the United States Barack Obama announced, "I will host a Summit on Entrepreneurship this year to identify how we can deepen ties between business leaders, foundations and social entrepreneurs in the United States and Muslim communities around the world". The Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship, held in Washington, D.C., on Monday April 26, and Tuesday, April 27, 2010, at the Ronald Reagan Building, followed through on President Obama's commitment by highlighting the importance of social and economic entrepreneurship, and strengthening mutually-beneficial relationships with entrepreneurs in Muslim-majority countries and Muslim communities around the world. At the second summit in Istanbul, Turkey, Vice President Joe Biden announced that the Presidential Summit would become the marquee event that kicks off Global Entrepreneurship Week each year, with the 2013 host being the United Arab Emirates.
The Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issues is located within the United States Department of State. In 2009, Melanne Verveer was appointed to be the first Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues. From September 2013 to May, 2017, Catherine M. Russell was appointed to this position. From May 2017 through December 2019, there was no ambassador for this office. Kelley Currie, a political appointee, joined the Global Women's Issues Office as U.S. Ambassador-at-Large in January 2020. Geeta Rao Gupta is the current Ambassador-at-Large for the office as of May 18th, 2023.
Commercial diplomacy is diplomacy that focuses on development of business between two countries. It aims at generating commercial gains in the form of trade and inward and outward investment by means of business and entrepreneurship promotion and facilitation activities in the host country. Commercial diplomacy is pursued with the goal of gaining economic stability, welfare, or competitive advantage.
Christoph Alexander Geiseler is a filmmaker and musician. He is the founder and CEO of Seenfire; he also founded the One Minute Academy and the international charity, MIMA Music, Inc. Geiseler works with the National Geographic Society, Adobe Inc. and Princeton University as a one-minute video expert and video producer. He represents the US Department of State as a Cultural Envoy and a video diplomacy expert; he has produced projects with 65 embassies around the world, ranging from drug violence prevention in Brazilian slums and entrepreneurship training in India, to video workshops for diplomats in Paris.
Culinary diplomacy, gastrodiplomacy or food diplomacy is a type of cultural diplomacy, which itself is a subset of public diplomacy. Its basic premise is that "the easiest way to win hearts and minds is through the stomach". Official government-sponsored culinary diplomacy programs have been established in Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Lebanon, Peru, Israel, the United States, Cambodia, Japan, Scandinavia, Australia and Uzbekistan.
Mona Olsen is a British-American entrepreneur and academic. Olsen is the founder and president of the board of iMADdu Inc., an educational nonprofit (501c3) based in Fairfax, Virginia that launched in 2010. Olsen joined the Cornell University faculty in 2013 and is an assistant professor of entrepreneurship in the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, in The School of Hotel Administration. She was the academic director of the Leland C. and Mary M. Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship. Mona Anita was a Fulbright Fellow in Education to Norway, awarded by the United States Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board in 2012–2013.
The Global Entrepreneurship Summit is an annual event organized by the federal government of the United States, in partnership with foreign government hosts. The summit originated from an event organized by the Obama Administration called the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship, which was held in April 2010 in Washington, D.C. It brought together entrepreneurs from the United States, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia to discuss the importance of social and economic entrepreneurship, establish entrepreneurship as an important area of policy focus, and strengthen mutually beneficial relationships between entrepreneurs.
Dilawar Syed is a Pakistani-American businessman, entrepreneur, and government official. He currently serves as deputy administrator of the Small Business Administration. He previously served as Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs at the United States Department of State.