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Ambassador John D. Negroponte to Serve as the 2018 Coast Guard Foundation Hedrick Fellow

Negroponte Iraq
February 28, 2018

Ambassador John D. Negroponte will visit the United States Coast Guard Academy on Wednesday, February 28, 2018 as the 23rd Coast Guard Foundation Hedrick Fellow.

While at the Coast Guard Academy, Ambassador Negroponte will participate in cadet-led academic seminars and attend a dinner in his honor. Ambassador Negroponte will deliver the Coast Guard Foundation Hedrick Fellowship Address to the corps of cadets in the evening of the 28th.

The fellowship program was established at the Coast Guard Foundation by Frank E. and Harriet E. Hedrick in 1982 as a way to bring world-renowned political, military and industry leaders to the United States Coast Guard Academy to share their knowledge and insight with cadets and faculty, providing an opportunity for the Coast Guard’s future leaders to learn from the experiences of America's most distinguished leaders.

Past Hedrick Fellows include William F. Buckley, Jr., former Presidents George H.W. Bush, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, former Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Warren Burger and Antonin Scalia, former Secretary of State James A. Baker and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card.

Supporting Coast Guard Academy cadets is an integral part of the Coast Guard Foundation's mission and introducing cadets to prominent leaders is an important step in forming the future officers' leadership skills. The Coast Guard Foundation Hedrick Fellow is a continuing part of that mission.

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Ambassador Negroponte joined McLarty Associates in 2009, following a distinguished career in diplomacy and national security. He held government positions abroad and in Washington between 1960 and 1997 and again from 2001 to 2008.

He has been Ambassador to Honduras, Mexico, the Philippines, the United Nations, and Iraq. In Washington he served twice on the National Security Council staff, first as Director for Vietnam in the Nixon Administration and then as Deputy National Security Advisor under President Reagan. He has also held a cabinet level position as the first Director of National Intelligence under President George W. Bush. His most recent position in government was as Deputy Secretary of State, where he served as the State Department’s Chief Operating Officer.

While in the private sector from 1997 to 2001, Ambassador Negroponte was Executive Vice President of the McGraw-Hill Companies, with responsibility for overseeing the company’s international activities. During those years he was also Chairman of the French-American Foundation.

Ambassador Negroponte serves as Chairman Emeritus of the Council of the Americas/Americas Society. He is also Co-chairman of the US-Philippines Society and a past member of the Secretary of State’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board. He has also served as Chairman of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance. Ambassador Negroponte has received numerous awards in recognition of his more than four decades of public service, including the State Department’s Distinguished Service Medal on two separate occasions, the highest award which can be conferred by the Secretary of State, and on January 16, 2009, President Bush awarded Ambassador Negroponte the National Security Medal for his outstanding contributions to US national security.

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