The Leadership of PDCA
PDCA is managed by a Board of Directors, drawn from the membership, who volunteer to serve the organization without compensation. The Board of Directors numbers between fifteen (15) and twenty-one (21) and meets at least quarterly. The Board of Directors adopts PDCA policies, guides programs, appoints Committees, leads PDCA activities, sets member dues, approves the annual budget, and secures and monitors the organization's finances.
Co-President Karl Stoltz
KARL STOLTZ retired from the U.S. State Department of State in October 2024 after a 38-1/2 years as a Foreign Service Officer, primarily in Public Diplomacy positions. He served as an Assistant Information Officer in Wellington and Moscow; as Cultural Affairs Officer in Jakarta; as Branch Public Affairs Officer in Christchurch, NZ; and as Country PAO in Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, South Africa, and Russia.
He also served twice as Deputy Chief of Mission in Myanmar and Denmark. In Washington, D.C., Karl was Office Director for Public Diplomacy in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs and for Citizen Exchanges in ECA. He also served as Regional Exchanges and Cultural Coordinator in USIA’s East Asia bureau and as Public Diplomacy Fellow at George Washington University. Karl’s final job at State was acting Deputy Coordinator and Senior Advisor at the R Bureau’s Global Engagement Center (GEC).
In retirement, Karl teaches a graduate course at GWU, serves as Chair of the Walter Roberts Endowment, and works part-time as a foreign policy advisor for Deft 9 Solutions LLC. Karl also has a prior background in public diplomacy with the governments of New Zealand and Australia. He speaks Russian, Indonesian, and Malaysian; his favorite free-time activities are travel, trivia contests, theatre and music, and participation in Hash House Harriers hiking clubs. Contact: President@PublicDiplomacy.org.
Co-President Vivian Walker
The former Executive Director of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, Dr. Vivian S. Walker is Practitioner in Residence at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, Adjunct Professor in GU’s MSFS degree program, Chair of the Foreign Service Journal Editorial Board, co-editor of the Palgrave Macmillan Series in Global Public Diplomacy, and Faculty Fellow at USC’s Center on Public Diplomacy. Previously, she taught at the Central European University, the National War College, and the National Defense College of the UAE.
A retired senior FSO, she twice served as a Deputy Chief of Mission (Croatia and Armenia), twice as an Office Director (Southeastern European Affairs and the Office of Press and Public Diplomacy for Europe), a Public Affairs Officer (Kazakhstan, with coverage of Tajikistan and Turkmenistan), a Cultural Affairs Officer (Tunisia) and an Information Officer (Haiti).
Other assignments include a two-year professorship in strategic studies at the National War College, a yearlong assignment as the State Department’s Regional Border Coordinator in Afghanistan, and a fellowship on the U.S. Atlantic Council, where she led the first interagency discussion on public diplomacy in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks.
Dr. Walker publishes and lectures extensively on the practice of public diplomacy in complex information environments. She has a PhD in English from the University of Chicago. Contact: President@PublicDiplomacy.org.
PDCA Officers for 2025-2026
Co-Presidents - Karl Stoltz & Vivian Walker |
Vice President - Ambassador (Ret.) Larry Wohlers |
Immediate Past President - Joel Fischman |
Treasurer - Quentin Lide |
Secretary - Tania Chomiak-Salvi |
Executive Director - Robert Heath |
Editor-in-Chief - Michael Korff |
Hans "Tom" Tuch Graduate Fellow - Lam Tran |
Board of Directors
Shaz Akram
Arthur Berger
Hon. Brian Carlson
Tania Chomiak-Salvi
Nick Cull, Ph.D.
Joel Fischman
Robert Heath*
Hon. Gordon Humphrey
Susan R. Johnson*
Judy Jung-Hwa Kang
Michael Korff*, Ph.D.
Quentin Lide
Josh Manley
Michael McCarry
Mark Rebstock
Larry Schwartz
Karl Stoltz
Lam Tran*
M. Karen Walker, Ph.D.
Vivian Walker, Ph.D.
William Wanlund
Hon. Earl Anthony Wayne
Lynne Weil
Hon. Larry Wohlers
*non-voting
Committee Chairs (for terms ending May 31, 2026)
Academic Study: M. Karen Walker*, Steven Louis Pike |
ACE Advocacy Communication Envoys: Lynne Weil*, Paul Foldi |
Awards: Ambassador (Ret.) Earl Anthony Wayne* |
Budget and Finance: Barbara Keller* |
Communication: Arthur Berger*, J. Michael Korff* |
Development: Shaz Akram*, Bill Wanlund* |
Membership and Outreach: Ambassador (Ret.) Brian Carlson* |
Nominating & Leadership Development: Joel Fischman* |
Program: Judy Jung-Hwa Kang*, Nick Cull* |
Training, Mentoring, and Professional Development: Dr. Vivian Walker*, Joshua Manley* |
*Also a member of the Board of Directors |