CONTENTS MSFS Leadership Welcome ....................................................................... 4 MSFS Leadership Team .............................................................................. 5 Alumni Spotlight ........................................................................................... 6 Reflections from Alumni Career Coaches ...........................................................................
6
Alumni Events ...............................................................................................
8
Alumni Reunion Weekend 2025 ......................................................................................... 8 Alumni Board Meeting, December 2024 ............................................................................ 9 Geoeconomics Talk & Reception in London ....................................................................... 10 Federal Service Shake-Up: MSFS Alumni Career Panel ..................................................... 11 Alumni Conduct Mock & Final Oral Exams for Second-Year Students ............................. 12 The January 6th Prosecutions, Pardons, and Purge ........................................................... 13 DoD is from Mars and State is from Venus: Joint Practitioner-in-Residence Session ...... 14 Science, Technology, & International Affairs (STIA) Mixer ............................................... 14
Student Events ............................................................................................... 15 Students Attend COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan ...................................................................... 15 Student Attends Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi, India ...................................................... 16
MSFS LEADERSHIP WELCOME Dear MSFS Alumni, In a time of continuous change at home and abroad, several things remain certain. The MSFS community is strong. It is highly motivated to take on global challenges. It also supports its members. Our alumni and faculty are actively engaging on issues in the United States and around the world. They are also assisting those whose careers and personal lives have been disrupted by recent events. In the following pages, you will hear about extraordinary engagements and adventures. You will also learn of MSFS Alumni helping other alumni and students to navigate disruptions created by recent turbulence in the United States and abroad. We are in the process of welcoming the next cohort of MSFS students. Those who choose MSFS do so because of you. Your spirit, thoughts, and actions validate the reputation of our program that initially attracted them. You are inspirational models of what they will become. Thank you for everything you do to make MSFS and the world better! Warm regards, George & Ashley
George Shambaugh
Ashley Lenihan
George Shambaugh MSFS Director
Ashley Lenihan MSFS Deputy Director
MSFS ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT Reflections from MSFS Alumni Career Coaches By Erin Winkler-McCue, Lindsay Lincoln, & Vijay Rajendran The recent uncertainty in Washington has highlighted that a growing number of MSFS alumni are turning to executive coaching after successful careers in the public and private sectors. This past February, Erin Winkler-McCue (MSFS ‘06) replied to a WhatsApp chat between a group of 2006 graduates, asking if anyone knew of a way for her to support MSFS graduates, who had been impacted by recent administration decisions, in her capacity as a coach. Word traveled quickly, and within a few weeks, Erin, Lindsay Lincoln (MSFS ‘06), and Vijay Rajendran (MSFS & MBA ‘07), all certified executive coaches, began offering one-on-one sessions to interested alumni.
Erin Winkler-McCue (MSFS ‘06)
The coaching initiative has since expanded, with additional alumni coaches extending their services to second-year students preparing for life after graduation this May. David E. Samso Aparici (MSFS ‘94), Rita Jupe (MSFS ‘98), and Karen Chopra (MSFS ‘86) have been involved with these efforts, joining a recent panel discussion to share career navigation tips. It’s interesting to see how many alumni have moved into the coaching space. Each alumnus involved in recent efforts has a different coaching domain – from executive leadership and emotional intelligence to founder support — and they each have a different story to tell about how they found their way to coaching, reflecting the multifaceted professional development characteristics of MSFS graduates.
Lindsay Lincoln (MSFS ‘06)
Erin’s coaching story begins long before MSFS. Raised in the Quaker tradition, as far back as she can remember, Erin wanted to craft a career that would allow her to help others have maximum impact. Navigating a 20-year career spanning development consulting, strategy consulting, and corporate leadership, Erin developed a deep passion for company-building and a deep understanding of organizational dynamics. Realizing that she was happiest when helping others learn how to operate more effectively in the grey areas that corporate environments often offer in spades, Erin transitioned into coaching in 2023. Just as Erin leveraged her MSFS education to craft a non-traditional but deeply rewarding career in corporate America, Erin now leverages those same skills to work with leaders and emerging leaders who want to build careers that create impact and provide deep fulfillment. Lindsay's early career was rooted in behavior change programming—particularly around HIV/AIDS and sexual and reproductive health— until she experienced coaching’s transformative power firsthand, experiencing a breakthrough in how she managed the thoughts and behaviors that had been holding her back. In the decade since, she has shifted her focus exclusively to coaching,
MSFS ALUMNI EVENTS UPCOMING EVENTS: Georgetown Reunion Weekend 2025 Friday May 30 – Sunday June 1 We encourage all classes with a 5-year reunion (2020, 2015, 2010, etc.) to come back to the Hilltop to celebrate Reunion Weekend 2025, from Friday May 30 to Sunday June 1. MSFS will host a picnic early Sunday afternoon specifically for MSFS alumni. You can reserve your tickets free of charge in Eventbrite. Feel free to bring your family and friends! Georgetown is also hosting many university-wide reunion events throughout the weekend, including campus walking tours, dialogues with Georgetown faculty, receptions, and a special Reunion Mass. You can view the full schedule here. Please register through the Reunion Weekend 2025 website by May 20. Please note: If you only wish to attend the MSFS alumni picnic, you do not need to register through the Reunion Weekend 2025 website or pay any registration fees. Please also note: MSFS alumni should not sign up for "class parties," as these are specifically intended for undergraduate alumni only.
CLASS NOTES
Class of 1975
John William Blaney (MSFS ‘75) donated his papers and some artifacts to Georgetown University Library's Booth Special Collections. He writes, “I hope to raise awareness of the importance of frontline diplomacy around the world and also shed light on pivotal moments in recent history, where I was present, such as nuclear arms control negotiations in 1980's, the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Nelson Mandela, and how the war in Liberia was ended via diplomacy right on the battlefield itself in 2003.”
Class of 1979
Class of 1980
Dennis Wilder (MSFS ‘79) has authored the opening chapter "Is the U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy Sustainable" in the edited volume “Security Challenges in Contemporary Indo-Pacific” that will be published in April. One reviewer commented, "In this impressive new volume, Zhiqun Zhu leads an eclectic group of interdisciplinary scholars from Asia and the United States to address both traditional and nontraditional dimensions of security in the IndoPacific."
Janet Heckman (MSFS ‘80) “Hi from the beautiful west coast of Ireland where we live now. After retiring from EBRD just before Covid I have been serving as an independent director on 3 boards in Kazakhstan and 1 in the Republic of Georgia. I will be attending the JCW in Philadelphia in April and would love to meet up with any MSFS attending.”
Class of 1981 Jerome Parisella’s (MSFS ‘81) recently published book, American Common Sense, proposes that since traditionally liberal or conservative ideologies are no longer able to serve Americans' best interests, what we need now is a transpartisan ideology of common sense that serves the common good of all Americans. The website is https://americancommonsense.org/.
CLASS NOTES
Class of 1983
Salon Dinner for MSFS Alumni on the topic of International Trade and Tariffs, held on Mar. 19, 2025 by GLAF at Wimmer Associates in Pasadena, CA. From Left including: Jean Poe (MSFS '06), Martina Senkyrikova (MSFS '21), Warren Wimmer (MSFS '83), Scott Morse (MSFS '83) Discussion Leader, Joshua Shen (MSFS '07), and Jenny Pan Hacker (MSFS '00). Marty Kalin (MSFS ‘83) writes: “As a founding board member and Secretary of the Multifaith Alliance for Syrian Refugees (MFA), I'm pleased to report that during the last five years, "MFA" has donated $550 million in humanitarian aid and medical supplies to Syrian refugees. Recently, MFA diversified its scope and successfully delivered 170 trucks of aid into Gaza with ongoing deliveries planned. We are partnering with a Palestinian NGO called "MENA" & an Israeli humanitarian NGO called IsrAID. We need your help!”
Classes of 1984 & 1985 Steven Fisher’s (MSFS ‘84) new book about Russia has just been prereleased for sale by Brookings Institution Press/Bloomsbury Academic. Co-edited with Georgetown University professor emeritus Harley Balzer, "Failure. Russia Under Putin" examines the significant failures Russia has faced under Vladimir Putin's leadership. The book is now available for pre-order on Barnes & Noble.com and Amazon.
Continuing their long tradition of biennial MSFS reunion trips, Armand Bogaarts (MSFS ‘84), his wife Lourdes Ramirez (MA’85), Linda Powers Tomasso (MSFS ‘85), and Tim Mitchell (MSFS ‘84) toured Utah’s national parks in October 2024. Hiking is a theme of these reunions, at least while they still can!
SFS CAREER CENTER Alumni Resources SFS Provides Career Services for Life! Thinking about a career pivot or next steps? Want help strategizing your long-term career goals or expanding your network? As a reminder, alumni have lifetime access to all of the SFS Career Center resources, including: 24/7 Online Career Resources Programming (e.g. Networking Events, Industry Panels, Jumpstart January Sessions) 1:1 Coaching If you have any questions, please reach out to the SFS Career Center at sfscc@georgetown.edu.