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(Photo by Benjamin Kaufmann. Licensed by Unsplash License.)
Join us for the Burkle Center's 2022-23 International Career Panel. Take this opportunity to learn about a range of professions in the international arena and gain insight into how best to prepare for a career path in this field!
This event is part of International Education Week and is co-sponsored by the UCLA Department of History.
ABOUT THE PANELISTS
GREGORY ANDERSON
Mr. Anderson began his Department of State Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) career at the New York Field Office conducting criminal investigations related to passport and visa fraud and protective security operations for visiting dignitaries. Subsequent tours include the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Russia and the U.S. Embassy Kigali, Rwanda, where he managed the security program for the building of a new embassy compound and received numerous VIP visits to include POTUS, FLOTUS, SECSTATE, former POTUS and CODEL's. Mr. Anderson also served in Kuwait City, Kuwait. During his tour and because of the proximity to Iraq, the embassy was heavily engaged with the operations there. After some time at headquarters in Rosslyn, Virginia, Anderson served at the U.S. Consulate in Erbil, Iraq, the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR), then at the U.S. Embassy Prague, Czech Republic and the U.S. Embassy Warsaw, Poland. Mr. Anderson is currently assigned to the Diplomatic Security Service Los Angeles Field Office where he is the Special Agent in Charge. Mr. Anderson served over 23 years in the department with a total of more than 28 years of government service inclusive of his military time.
KATELYN CHOE
Katelyn Choe is a U.S. diplomat with 22 years of experience in international relations, government affairs, and leadership management overseeing large, multicultural teams. Some of her previous diplomatic tours include The Netherlands, Afghanistan, Nepal, New Zealand, and South Korea. In her current role as Diplomat in Residence (DIR) for Southern CA, Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands, Katelyn is the primary recruiter for the U.S. Department of State and provides guidance and advice on careers, internships, and fellowships to students and professionals interested in pursuing a career in diplomacy. Katelyn learned about a career in diplomacy as a Pickering Fellow during her senior year in college and received her Masters Degree from Columbia University, which was fully funded by the State Department. In her current role as the DIR, she wants to help build a diverse and representative Diplomatic Corps that reflects and represents America, one where diversity and inclusion make us stronger, smarter, more creative, and more innovative. She is married to a publisher who can do his job and stay happy as long as there are reliable internet and bike paths. They have two children and two rescue dogs but she wishes she could have more (dogs, that is).
CHRIS COVINO
At The Rosslyn Group (TRG), Chris advises CISA’s Cybersecurity Division, helping shape the Cyber Threat Information Sharing program and strategy. Separately, he also serves as a policy advisor for LA Cyber Lab. Before joining TRG, Chris served as Mayor Garcetti’s Policy Director for Cyber and Infrastructure Security. In that role, Chris developed and coordinated the City’s cyber policy initiatives which focused on the City’s cyber resilience, working with the private sector, and collective defense with local, state, and federal partners. He was also a policy lead for the City’s COVID-19 response, helping oversee the City’s COVID vaccine and testing strategy. Before the Mayor’s Office, he held numerous positions in the public safety field, including Senior Deputy to the County of San Diego’s Chief Resilience Officer and as a Research Analyst for USC’s Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Event, and an Emergency Medical Technician in the Metro Boston area. Chris is a 2017 graduate of the USC’s Sol Price School of Public Policy Masters in Public Administration program and received his bachelor’s degree in Clinical Exercise Science from Ithaca College in 2009.
ALEXANDER MESSMANN
Alexander Messmann is the Executive Vice President of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council & Town Hall. He has been with the Los Angeles World Affairs Council & Town Hall since 1987. He studied at universities in Germany and the United States and obtained a graduate degree in Public Administration from the University of Konstanz. Before starting his tenure at the Council, he had worked at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in New York and as a research assistant at the University of Konstanz.
ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Alexandra Lieben is the Deputy Director of the Ronald W. Burkle Center for International Relations and Lecturer in the Undergraduate Program in Public Affairs at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. A certified mediator, she teaches constructive communication, alternative dispute resolution, public dialogue, cultural competency, international conflict resolution, and community and economic development to undergraduate and graduate students at UCLA.