Cultural Diplomacy
In recollection of Lois Roth’s efforts to promote cross‐cultural understanding and cooperation as a US Foreign Service Officer, the Roth Foundation partners with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) (US State Department), to provide the department’s four awards honoring excellence in the field of cultural and educational diplomacy.
We are thrilled to announce the 2025 winners of the Lois Roth Awards for excellence in cultural and educational diplomacy, given in partnership with the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). Congratulations to Alev Alemdar, Britta Bjornlund, Nikki Finnemann, Naimeh Hadidi, Johnny Hishmeh, Linda Piccirilli, Marion Salvanet, Mathias Tientcheu, Charlène Wantong-Dijani, and Shahid Waseem. ECA and the Lois Roth Foundation salute all the winners, nominees and their nominators for participating in this competition.
- The Lois Roth Award recognizes a Foreign Service Officer with the US State Department.
- The Ilchman‐Richardson Award recognizes an ECA administrator who has made significant contributions in the domestic management of US cultural diplomacy.
- The Gill Jacot‐Guillarmod Award and the Jodie Lewinsohn Career Achievement Award recognize locally-employed specialists, working at an embassy or consulate overseas, who have made outstanding contributions to the mutual goals of the U.S. and host country in cultural and/or educational diplomacy.
- In 2018, the Roth Foundation introduced the Emeritus Award, designed to honor lifetime contributions to international cultural and educational relations. In addition to retired diplomats, eligible candidates may have a different background, including in but not restricted to government, universities, US non-profits, international NGOs, etc.
The types of qualities displayed by recipients of Roth Foundation cultural diplomacy awards include:
- Cross‐cultural sensitivity and understanding for all—regardless of age, race, religion, color, sex, national origin or disability—and the courage and intellectual integrity to bring alternate facts and opinions into open conversation
- Ingenuity and imagination in creating projects, programs and products to deepen the contact between foreign intellectuals, artists and professionals and their US counterparts
- Familiarity with global affairs and foreign languages, to deepen substantive discussion between US and foreign intellectuals, scholars and professionals
- Patience, wisdom and generosity in helping new colleagues, both international and US, develop their careers
- Special skill in promoting collaborations between US and foreign institutions and high‐quality exchange opportunities with the civil sector.
Our Awards
Lois Roth Award For Cultural Diplomacy
The Lois Roth Award is presented every year to a Foreign Service Officer who has made significant contributions to the field of US cultural and educational diplomacy. It honors those who exhibit cross-cultural sensitivity in all aspects of their work and show patience, wisdom and generosity in helping new colleagues—international and American—to pursue and develop their skills and careers. Displaying familiarity with different areas of the world, global affairs and foreign languages, winners of this award hold substantive discussion with US and foreign scholars, artists and professionals, while exemplifying Lois Roth’s personal legacy of superior creativity and human warmth in their work with others.
The 2025 Lois Roth Award for excellence in cultural diplomacy goes to Johnny O. Hishmeh, Public Diplomacy Officer for Public Engagement in the Venezuela Affairs Unit at the U. S. Embassy in Bogota.
Johnny exemplifies the legacy of Lois Roth through his patience, wisdom, and generosity in supporting his team in Caracas. Under challenging conditions from Bogota, Johnny has mentored his team and university partners in Venezuela , guiding them through project management, leadership, and financial oversight. His innovative educational diplomacy initiatives have resulted in 26 new U.S.-Venezuelan university partnerships. Notably, he and his team created a U.S.-style internship program with VenAmCham, offering industry tours and applied learning for 60 students from two top universities, an initiative that has laid the groundwork for future programs.
Honorable Mention for the 2025 Lois Roth Award goes to Nicole (Nikki) Finnemann, Public Affairs Officer at the Consulate General in Barcelona.
Nikki has consistently demonstrated superior creativity, profound cultural sensitivity, and remarkable human warmth in fostering meaningful international collaboration. She led the 2025 Academy for Women Entrepreneurs Continental Summit, connecting women entrepreneurs across Europe with AI-enhanced business tools, and launched JumpStartUp, linking Barcelona’s biotech community with counterparts in Boston to foster scientific and cultural exchange. Previously, she spearheaded the Department’s public diplomacy engagement at the Ninth Summit of the Americas, highlighting cultural voices, and pioneered the Department’s first modern diaspora cultural engagement strategy, positioning Latin American communities as vital cultural bridges in shaping summit priorities.
Ilchman‐Richardson Award
Instituted in 2007, the Ilchman‐Richardson Award recognizes an ECA employee in Washington who has made significant contributions to the management of US cultural diplomacy, while leading and mentoring others. It is named in appreciation of two former ECA Assistant Secretaries, Alice Ilchman and John Richardson. After her tenure at ECA, Alice Ilchman, formerly Dean of Wellesley College, became the Associate Director of USICA and USIA (1979‐81) and then the President of Sarah Lawrence College, before becoming chair of the board of the Rockefeller Foundation; she directed the Jeanette Watson Fellowships until her death in 2006. John Richardson became Assistant Secretary for State/ECA (1968‐77) after years in corporate law, investment banking and Radio Free Europe; after his tenure, he headed Youth for Understanding and chaired the boards of the US Endowment for Democracy and the US Institute of Peace.
The 2025 Ilchman-Richardson award goes to Britta Bjornlund, Chief of the Youth Programs Division, Office of Citizen Exchanges at the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA).
With calm and compassion, Britta guided the creation and growth of two of the Department’s most impactful regional initiatives in the past decade: the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), with its Mandela Washington Fellows Program, and the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI). Together, these efforts have forged enduring bonds between Americans and over 10,000 young leaders from Africa and Southeast Asia. Amid unprecedented challenges, Britta led her team with resilience and clarity by overseeing the repatriation of 2,000 high school exchange participants during COVID, restarting those programs once the pandemic eased, and addressing the urgent needs of nearly 200 Ukrainian students displaced by Russia’s 2022 invasion.
Honorable Mention for the 2025 Ilchman-Richardson award goes to Linda Piccirilli, International Visitor Exchange Specialist, New York Program Branch of the Office of International Visitors at the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA).
Over her nearly 30-year career with ECA’s Office of International Visitors New York Program Branch (NYPB), she has deftly managed thousands of IVLP projects and shaped the lives of tens of thousands of emerging global leaders. Her diligence, warmth, and creativity are exceeded only by her commitment to strengthening the United States and its most important partnerships. Among her many notable achievements, Linda helped create a large-scale public-private partnership and developed an annual conference to enhance the Edward R. Murrow journalism project. As her nominator notes, Linda is the “heart and soul” of the New York branch.
Established in 2013, Gill Jacot-Guillarmod Awards recognize Locally Employed Staff members at US embassies and consulates who have made outstanding contributions in educational and cultural diplomacy to missions shared by the U.S. and the host country. These awards are named in honor of Gillian (Gill) Jacot-Guillarmod who served for 35 years at the US Mission in South Africa and Embassy in Pretoria, spanning the apartheid period to the emergence of democracy.
Such staff members share their deep institutional memory, personal relationships in the community and knowledge of local culture, society and politics. They also maintain continuity at US embassies and missions worldwide, as US Foreign Service Officers rotate every few years, and play an important role as mentors to new colleagues and supervisors alike. As Bruce Wharton, then-Acting Under Secretary for Public Affairs, put it in reference to 2015 “Gill” recipient Monica Alcalde:
“The things she taught me—from process, to substance, to style—have guided me as I moved from job to job across Latin America, the U.S. and Africa. Without Monica’s patient teaching and friendship, I don’t think I would ever have made it beyond Assistant Cultural Affairs Officer.”
Gill Jacot-Guillarmod, whom this award honors, served for thirty-five years in South Africa, spanning a period from the dark days of apartheid through to the peaceful emergence of democracy. Although it ran counter to the American democratic mission, in the 1960s and 70s the U.S. was under intense pressure from the South African government to support its state-sponsored racial segregation. Within this tense environment, Gill programmed hundreds of Fulbright and other grantees; later, with great political sensitivity, she worked to assist in South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy. Lois Roth considered Gill to be one of the most remarkable locally-employed staff she had ever encountered. This is also true of the dozen of Gill’s colleagues at USIS Pretoria, many of whom worked with the Roth Foundation to get this prize instituted. This award in Gill’s name thus represents the respect and admiration of a great number of people. She is remembered as a consummate cross-cultural communicator and bridge-builder, serving on behalf of all as a mentor, counselor and committed senior colleague. Read an Interview with Gill Jacot-Guillarmod, conducted by Foreign Service Officer Dan Whitman and published in his book Outsmarting Apartheid (SUNY Press, 2014).
The 2025 award went to Shahid Waseem, Country Alumni Specialist at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad.
Shahid has transformed Mission Pakistan’s alumni outreach, strengthening Established Opinion Leaders and Emerging Voices networks of U.S. exchange alumni across the country.He founded and leads the Pakistan-U.S. Alumni Network (PUAN) that hosts national and international conferences, provides internships for 1,000 alumni, and funds innovative public diplomacy projects. Thanks to Shahid’s leadership, PUAN is one of the largest networks of its kind in the world. Through his vision and leadership, alumni engagement in Pakistan has flourished, showcasing the lasting impact of exchange programs.
The 2025 Honorable Mention went to Charlene Wantong, Public Engagement Specialist, U.S. Embassy in Yaoundé.
In under six years as Emerging Voices Specialist, Charlene has established herself as a visionary leader in educational and cultural diplomacy, combining cross-cultural sensitivity, strategic insight, and a deep commitment to mentorship. She has transformed disparate alumni groups into self-sustaining networks, led Cameroon’s first National Alumni Symposiums, and empowered Mandela and YALI alumni to take leadership roles in youth engagement. Through innovative initiatives like the “ConnectUSA” campaign and creative programming—from poetry slams to culinary diplomacy—Charlene has strengthened U.S. influence while fostering local ownership. As her nominator notes, she embodies the Lois Roth/Gill Jacot-Guillarmod ethos, demonstrating creativity, empathy, and strategic impact in public diplomacy.
The Jodie Lewinsohn Career Achievement Award honors the most accomplished and longest-serving Locally Employed Staff members, particularly those who are nearing retirement. It is named for a distinguished U.S. Information Agency Foreign Service Officer who was a close friend and mentor to Lois Roth and who also served as the head of the Public Affairs Section at the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, when Gill Jacot-Guillarmod was working there. In 2022, Jodie left a legacy in her will to endow this award in perpetuity. This award recognizes those who are nearing the end of their careers for long-standing dedication to their work and their success in what Gill described as “helping the United States while helping your own country.” The 2025 Jodie Lewinsohn Career Achievement Award went jointly to Alev Alemdar, Naimeh Hadidi, Marion Salvanet, and Mathias Tientcheu.
Alev Alemdar, Established Opinion Leader Specialist at the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul, has dedicated 27 years to advancing cultural and educational diplomacy with unmatched excellence, integrity, and vision. She has been the cornerstone of the Consulate’s relationships with governments, universities, NGOs, and cultural institutions, guiding nine ambassadors, eight consuls general, and 21 public diplomacy officers with wisdom, warmth, and humor. Her strategic leadership has produced landmark achievements, including a transformative interagency MoU between the U.S. and Türkiye, while her legendary mentorship and generosity have shaped generations of officers, leaving a lasting legacy of impact, resilience, and compassion.
Naimeh Hadidi, Senior Public Engagement Specialist at U. S. Embassy in Riyadh, has spent four decades building bridges between Saudi society and the U.S. through visionary public diplomacy programs. She has nurtured extensive networks across the Kingdom, mentoring participants and matching them to impactful initiatives, including Saudi Arabia’s first English Language Specialist Program reaching 6,000 teachers, pioneering female law student exchanges, and launching the YES program with trusted local leaders. Following 9/11, she championed programming promoting religious tolerance, interfaith dialogue, and outreach to conservative and rural communities. As her nominator notes, Naimeh’s sustained efforts have laid the foundation for PAS Riyadh to expand and diversify bilateral engagement under Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, embodying Gill’s principle of “helping the United States while helping your own country.
Marion Salvanet is a Public Engagement Specialist at Africa Regional Services at the U. S. Embassy in Paris. She provides vital public diplomacy support to 27 French- and Portuguese-speaking posts in Africa. Over her 20-year career, she has recruited U.S. speakers and performing artists, managed press and digital engagement, and trained and mentored generations of PD staff, FSOs, and LES alike. Marion’s exceptional program design skills, extensive networks, and innovative approaches such as her widely emulated virtual programming during the pandemic have strengthened missions across the region. As her nominator notes, her expertise, mentorship, and unwavering dedication exemplify the highest standards of public diplomacy and make her an indispensable asset for the team.
Mathias Tientcheu, Public Engagement Specialist at Embassy Yaoundé, has for over two decades been a cornerstone of U.S. public diplomacy in Cameroon, exemplifying creativity, cultural fluency, mentorship, and lasting impact. As an Established Opinion Leaders Specialist, he has led IVLP, Fulbright, university partnerships, and cultural programs including AFCP, while transforming American Corners in Buea and Garoua to extend U.S. outreach into Cameroon’s English-speaking Southwest and Muslim-majority North. From serving as official interpreter at the 2005 New Embassy Compound inauguration to spearheading Cameroon’s Cultural Property Agreement with the U.S., Mathias combines exceptional diplomacy, vision, and innovation. As his nominator notes, his programming, mentorship, and unwavering dedication have left an indelible mark on colleagues, communities, and institutions.
Citizen’s Award for Cultural Diplomacy
In contrast to the first three awards for excellence in cultural and educational diplomacy, which are restricted to actively employed individuals, the Roth Foundation’s Citizen’s Award fills a longstanding need to recognize work in cultural diplomacy on the part of others. For the first time since 2019, we presented this occasional award at the Bulgarian Embassy to Elizabeth Kostova for her work with the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation, which she co-founded to connect Bulgarian authors and translators with literary circles around the world. Over almost twenty years, this work has significantly changed and revitalized the Bulgarian cultural scene
Elizabeth Kostova first visited Bulgaria in 1989, just before the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the country’s beauty and culture inspired her lifelong commitment to supporting its writers. Seeing how few international opportunities Bulgarian authors had, she personally spearheaded the creation of the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation (EKF) in 2007 to connect Bulgarian and Anglophone literary communities. Thanks to her vision, persistence, and credibility, EKF pioneered creative writing workshops in Bulgaria, launched the Dyankov Translation Prize, and helped bring more than twenty contemporary Bulgarian novels into English. Under her leadership, the Sozopol Seminars, CapitaLiterature Festival, and other innovative programs have become major platforms for artistic exchange, nurturing hundreds of writers and elevating Bulgarian literature on the world stage. Kostova’s dedication remains the driving force behind EKF’s profound cultural impact and its model of person-to-person cultural diplomacy.
Nomination Process
Every spring, the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs will internally circulate details regarding nominations for the four Lois Roth Foundation Awards. State Department supervisors are invited to submit nominations in all four categories, which must include:
- Name, title and email address of the nominee;
- Name, title and email address of the nominating supervisor;
- Work location of the nominee;
- Brief description of the role of the nominee at the overseas post or domestic ECA office;
- Narrative (not to exceed two pages) describing the achievement(s) of the nominee and justifying the nomination.
Nominations for the occasional Citizen’s Award for Cultural Diplomacy may be submitted to the Roth Foundation via email at any time. Please include a c.v. for the individual and a narrative (not to exceed three pages) describing the achievement(s) of the nominee and justifying the nomination. The Foundation will assemble a committee to evaluate the nomination and reserves the right to: reject the nomination, should the committee so decide; or select the time and venue for bestowing the award, should the committee approve the nomination.