Annual Walter Roberts Lecture: Has America Lost Its Voice?

Since 2011, the Walter Roberts Endowment has hosted an annual lecture with a prominent and distinguished foreign policy figure at GW. Free and open to the public, the lecture provides a platform for students, faculty, and public diplomacy practitioners to hear different perspectives on issues related to public diplomacy and foreign policy.

Speakers:

1. Bay Fang is President and CEO of Radio Free Asia, where she oversees award-winning journalism with the mission of bringing free press to closed societies in Asia. She spent most of her career in print journalism, as the Beijing Bureau Chief and covering the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq for US News and World Report, and later as the Diplomatic Correspondent for the Chicago Tribune. She served in government during the Obama Administration as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Press and Public Diplomacy. Ms. Fang earned her undergraduate degree at Harvard University, was a visiting fellow at Oxford University and a Fulbright scholar in Hong Kong. She trained as a French chef at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and holds a brown belt in kung fu.
2. Jamie Fly is chief executive officer (CEO) of Freedom House.Previously, Fly was senior counselor at Palantir Technologies from 2023 to 2025, where he supported efforts to defend Ukrainian democracy from Moscow’s illegal, full-scale military invasion, and served as president and CEO of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) from 2019 to 2020 and 2021 to 2023. Fly also held various roles at the German Marshall Fund of the United States including senior fellow, advisor to the president, co-director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy, and director of the Future of Geopolitics and Asia programs. He served as counselor for foreign and national security affairs to Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) from 2013 to 2017, and as foreign policy advisor during Senator Rubio’s presidential campaign. Prior to joining Senator Rubio’s staff, he was the executive director of the Foreign Policy Initiative. Fly additionally served in the George W. Bush administration at the National Security Council and in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. In 2024, for his work at RFE/RL, Fly was awarded the Czech Foreign Ministry’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to Diplomacy for outstanding contributions to the advocacy of human rights around the world. For his work in the Department of Defense, he was awarded the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service. Fly also served as a Senate-confirmed appointee on the International Broadcasting Advisory Board from 2024 to 2025 and was a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute. Fly received an MA in German and European studies from Georgetown University and a BA in international studies and political science from American University.
3. Jeffrey Gedmin currently leads Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc. (MBN), a non-profit international multimedia corporation funded by the U.S. Government to produce and communicate accurate, objective, timely and relevant news and information about the United States, the region, and the world to Arabic-speaking audience across the Middle East and North Africa. In support of U.S. public diplomacy, MBN operates Alhurra television network, audio content and targeted digital and social media properties. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on several advisory boards, including the Institute for State Effectiveness, the Justice for Journalists Foundation, the Tocqueville Conversations, and the Institute for Current World Affairs.
4. As BBG Deputy Director, Jeffrey Trimble acted as the second-in-command and was the principal deputy and adviser to the CEO. The Deputy Director assisted the CEO in overseeing the strategy and operations of the BBG and of U.S. International Media (USIM), provided oversight of all elements of the BBG, and provided day-to-day planning, coordination, and strategic guidance to the CEO. He was authorized to serve as Acting Director in the CEO’s absence. Trimble joined the BBG in 2007 as Director of Programming and later served as Executive Director, managing the Board staff and providing strategic guidance and program oversight. He became IBB Deputy Director in 2012 and worked with the Global Strategy team, focusing on special projects to advance collaboration and coordination across the BBG. Trimble also worked for 10 years at RFE/RL, where his positions included Acting President, Counselor to the President for Programs and Policy, Director of Policy and Strategic Planning, and Director of Broadcasting. Previously Trimble worked at U.S. News & World Report magazine for 15 years, in positions including Assistant Managing Editor, Foreign Editor, Moscow Bureau Chief, and diplomatic correspondent. He holds a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree from Ohio State University and is a fluent Russian-speaker.

Followed by a discussion moderated by

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Host or Publisher Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication