hosted by Professor Sergey Radchenko

Organized by the Johns Hopkins University SAIS Europe Student Government Association

KELLY DEGNAN

Kelly Degnan served as United States Ambassador to Georgia from 2020-2023. She is a career diplomat with the rank of Minister Counselor. During her 30-year career, Ambassador Degnan served as the Deputy Chief of Mission and Charge d'affaires ad interim at U.S. Embassies in Italy and Kosovo. Her other assignments overseas include NATO, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Botswana. In Washington, D.C., Ambassador Degnan served as the State Department's Deputy Executive Secretary under Secretary John Kerry, as a Special Assistant to Secretary Madeleine Albright, and as a Special Assistant to three Undersecretaries for Political Affairs, Marc Grossman, William Burns, and Nicholas Burns.

Ambassador Degnan earned a degree in journalism from Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism and a law degree from the University of Southern California Law Center. As an attorney, she served as Legal Counsel in the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Palau while navigating the Pacific on her sailboat. She speaks Italian and French, has studied Turkish and Urdu, and learned basic Georgian.

NORBERT BAAS

Norbert Baas is Former German to the Republic of Korea; Former Ambassador to Indonesia, ASEAN, and East Timor; Special Envoy for Russia, Central Asia and the Caucasus at the German Foreign Office. Baas is the Director for Asia-Pacific in the Diplomatic Academy of the Foreign Office, and Senior Advisor at Bohnen Kallmorgen & Partner Berlin. He is the President of the JHU SAIS German Alumni Association.