Trustees & Policy Council

Overall direction of the Foundation rests with its five Trustees, including two continuing Trustees who knew and worked with Mrs. Cox, and a Trustee who is a recently retired Foreign Service Officer.

The Trustees consult a Policy Council which includes retired and active duty senior Foreign Service Officers, and other distinguished individuals with experience in public service, international affairs, charitable foundations and education.

Trustees

Harvie Branscomb, Jr., Chair
Dian Owen VanDeMark, President
Alexander F. Watson
Margo Branscomb, Secretary/Treasurer
Shannon M. Wilde

Policy Council

A. Elizabeth Jones, Chair

Beth Jones is a Career Ambassador with 35 years in the Foreign Service. She was Assistant Secretary for Europe and Eurasia (2001-2005), Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Near East and Senior Advisor for Caspian Basin Energy Diplomacy. She served as Ambassador to Kazakhstan (1995-98) and was Deputy Chief of Mission in Bonn and Islamabad. Her other overseas posts include Kabul, Baghdad, Cairo, Amman and Berlin. In Washington she also served as Executive Assistant to Secretary Christopher, Deputy Director for Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, and Lebanon Desk Officer. She studied Arabic in Beirut, Tunis and Cairo and speaks Russian and German. Beth graduated from Swarthmore College in 1970 and earned an MA from Boston University in 1986. Ambassador Jones is the Executive Vice President of APCO Worldwide, providing international business and political consulting services to foreign governments, corporations, and organizations. APCO Worldwide specializes in media relations, business diplomacy, communications, and numerous other critical fields.

W. Robert Pearson

Ambassador W. Robert Pearson completed a 30 year career with the Department of State as Director General of the Foreign Service, retiring in 2006. He was U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Turkey during 2000 to 2003. Prior to that, he had assignments as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Paris as well as the U.S. Mission to NATO in Brussels, Executive Secretary of the Department of State, Deputy Executive Secretary of the National Security Council, Deputy Assistant Secretary General of NATO and Chair of NATO’s Political Committee, and a Political Officer in China. He is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and of the University of Virginia School Of Law. Ambassador Pearson speaks French, Chinese and Turkish and is a member of the California Bar.

Marc Grossman

Ambassador Grossman is currently Vice Chairman of The Cohen Group, an international consulting firm. He retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 2005 with the personal rank of Career Ambassador, having completed a distinguished 29-year career. As Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (2001-2005) he was the most senior Foreign Service Officer. Immediately prior, his responsibilities included serving as Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources (2000 to 2001), and U.S. Ambassador to Turkey (1994 to 1997.) His other overseas assignments include Deputy Director of the Private Office of Lord Carrington, the NATO Secretary-General, from 1983 to 1986 and at the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan from 1976 to 1983.

Thomas A. Shannon

Thomas Shannon is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. Between his service in the National Security Council and the Department of State, Ambassador Shannon has worked in Venezuela, South Africa, Brazil, Cameroon, Sao Tome and Principe, and Guatemala. He is a former Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the National Security Council, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the Department of State, where he was Director of Andean Affairs. Ambassador Shannon currently serves Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, confirmed on October 7, 2005. Mr. Shannon holds a Doctorate and a Master's degree in politics from Oxford University, and a B.A. in Government and Philosophy from the College of William and Mary.

Faris A. Kirkland

Alex Kirkland serves in the United States Navy and is currently assigned to the Naval Air Training Command. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Corpus Christi State University and a Master of Science degree in Global Leadership from the University of San Diego School of Business. Further academic training has been accomplished at the Naval Postgraduate School and the Naval War College. He has traveled considerably throughout his career. He is also presently serving as Treasurer and Finance Committee Chairman of Saint James Episcopal School.

Gretchen Gerwe Welch

Gretchen Welch is currently the Director of the Office of Resources, Policy and Planning in the Office of the Under Secretary for Public Affairs and Public Diplomacy. Ms. Welch joined the Foreign Service in 1980. Her most recent positions were as Executive Director, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs (2004-5), where she oversaw the management operations of the 54 U.S. Embassies in Europe and Eurasia ; and as Regional Program Officer in the U.S. Embassy in Cairo , Egypt (2002-2004), where she supported the Department's Middle East Partnership Initiative. She graduated from Stanford University in 1978 with a degree in international relations and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Henry R. Nau

Henry R. Nau is Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at the Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University. He has taught at Williams College and as Visiting Professor at Johns Hopkins SAIS, Stanford, and Columbia Universities.  From January 1981 to July 1983, he served on President Reagan's National Security Council as senior staff member responsible for international economic affairs.  Among other duties he was the White House sherpa for the Annual G-7 Economic Summits at Ottawa (1981), Versailles (1982), and Williamsburg (1983), and the special summit with developing countries in Cancun (1982). Dr. Nau also served, in 1975-1977, as Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs in the Department of State, where he received the Superior Honor Award in 1977. In addition to numerous articles, his published books include, Perspectives on International Relations: Power, Institutions, and Ideas (Congressional Quarterly Press, Second Edition, 2009); At Home Abroad: Identity and Power in American Foreign Policy (Cornell University Press, 2002); Trade and Security: US Policies at Cross-Purposes (American Enterprise Institute Press, 1995); The Myth of America’s Decline: Leading the World Economy into the 1990’s (Oxford University Press, 1990; paperback with new preface, 1992); and National Politics and International Technology: Nuclear Reactor Development in Western Europe  (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1974).