Ambassadors' Roundtable with Ambassador Mark F. Brzezinski

The Council of American Ambassadors invites you to listen in as U.S. Ambassador to Poland (2022 - 2025) and Sweden (2011 - 2015) Mark F. Brzezinski joins U.S. Ambassador to Estonia Aldona Woś, M.D. (1994 - 1998) to share about his time at post. 

Ambassador Brzezinski and Ambassador Woś, M.D. dive into a wide range of topics, including:  

• The U.S. - Polish Diplomatic Relationship;

• The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) amid ongoing Russian aggressions;

• What It Means to Be An Ambassador in the 21st Century;

• And more!  

See below for an excerpt from this engaging discussion:

"We wanted to keep Poland economically stable. Putin would have loved for his attack on Ukraine to have economically destabilized Central and Eastern Europe. To the contrary, the economies in this part of the world have risen despite the war next door."

-Ambassador Mark Brzezinski

About the Speakers:

Ambassador Mark Brzezinski has a distinguished career in public service and

the private sector. He currently is President and CEO of Brzezinski Global

Strategies, a boutique strategic consulting firm.

Mark served as U.S. Ambassador to Poland from 2021-2024. This was a period

when Poland hosted over 13,000 U.S. troops, and President Biden announced the

first permanent U.S. military installation in Poland. Mark spearheaded the

selection of American-firms Westinghouse and Bechtel to build Poland’s very first

civil nuclear power plant, a $30 billion deal. During his time as U.S. Ambassador

to Poland, the Polish government transitioned from a semi-authoritarian system to

a democratic form of governance. During the Obama Administration, Mark served

as the U.S. Ambassador to Sweden between 2011-2015. This was a period in

which the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm was recognized for spearheading innovative

new approaches to advance U.S.-European trade and landing key Swedish

investments, including Volvo's decision to invest $1 billion to build a factory in

South Carolina, the first time ever Volvo will have an auto assembly plant in the

U.S. During his tenure as Ambassador, U.S. commercial diplomacy efforts in the

Nordic region were consolidated in the U.S. Embassy in Sweden. Mark arranged

the first-ever U.S. Presidential visit to Stockholm in 2013, which brought together

all five heads of governments of the Nordic countries for a summit that galvanized

a U.S.-Nordic strategic approach on energy, innovation and sustainability. For his

service, Mark was awarded the Royal Order of the Polar Star by the King of

Sweden, a high honor rarely bestowed on a foreign ambassador. In 2015, Mark

was asked by the White House to lead a strategic effort on the Arctic. As the first

Executive Director of the White House's Arctic Executive Steering Committee,

Mark spearheaded President Obama's historic engagement in the Arctic and wasthe driving force behind the White House's hosting of the first-ever Arctic Science

Ministerial. His leadership resulted in new markers being set for commercial

development in the fragile Arctic region. From 1999 to 2001, Mark served on

President Clinton's National Security Council staff, first as a Director for Russia

and Eurasia, and then as a Director for the Balkans.

Mark received his BA from Dartmouth College, his JD from the University of

Virginia (where he was a member of the Law Review), and a Doctorate in Political

Science from Oxford University. He is a member of the Council on Foreign

Relations (CFR), where he has served on the board of advisors of CFR's Corporate

Program. Mark was a Fulbright Scholar in Poland in 1991-93, and in 2010

President Obama named him to the U.S. State Department's Fulbright Foreign

Scholarship Board which oversees the Fulbright and other U.S. government

exchange programs. In January 2018, Mark served as a University of Virginia

adjunct professor, co-teaching the “World of Investing” course at the McIntire

School of Commerce.

Ambassador Aldona Z. Woś, M.D. was born in Warsaw, Poland. Her father survived Flossenburg Concentration Camp, and her mother survived Nazi Germany’s child slave labor. Her father, Paul Zenon Woś, was a member of the Polish Home Army and recipient of many distinguished awards, including the “Righteous Among the Nations” medal from Yad Vashem.

In 2002 and 2004, President George W. Bush appointed Ambassador Woś to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. In 2004, she was appointed as the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Estonia. During her tour, she focused on winning the hearts and minds of the next generation of Estonian leaders, Russian integration, HIV and AIDS prevention, and the preservation of Estonian culture. For her service, Ambassador Woś was awarded the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana 1st Class by the President of the Republic of Estonia, the Distinguished Service Cross of the Estonian Defense Forces, and the Cross of Merit of the Estonian National Police Board. In 2007, she received the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland. In 2008, she was presented the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. She was invested in the Sovereign Order of Malta in 2010.

In 2012, Ambassador Woś served on The University of North Carolina’s Board of Governors. From 2013 to 2015, she served as North Carolina’s Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services overseeing more than 18,000 employees across North Carolina and a nearly $20 billion budget. In 2017, President Donald Trump appointed Ambassador Woś as the Vice Chair of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. In 2018, she was appointed to the Duke Law Board of Visitors. In 2020, President Donald Trump nominated Ambassador Woś to be the U.S. Ambassador to Canada. Ambassador Woś also serves on the boards of The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, the Council of American Ambassadors, and the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She is currently the President of The Institute of World Politics.