Season 5 Wrap-Up with Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis and Tressa Finerty

Season 5, Episode 8: Our tour through the many fora of multilateral diplomacy is coming to an end. To help us wrap up season five, ISD's own Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis and Tressa Finerty join Dr. Kelly McFarland to explore key themes, re-examine the tough questions, and look forward to the future of consensus-driven multilateral diplomacy.

Ambassador (ret.) Jeffrey DeLaurentis is currently Acting Deputy Representative of the United States to the United Nations. During his 28-year career in the Foreign Service,  he worked almost exclusively on Western Hemisphere issues and served as a multilateral diplomat at the United Nations. He served as the first Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Havana following the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba. Prior to taking up his Cuba post in August 2014, he was Ambassador/Alternate Representative for Special Political Affairs at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. Previously, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, and as Minister Counselor for Political Affairs and Security Council Coordinator at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. He is a graduate of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and Columbia University Graduate School of International and Public Affairs.

Tressa Rae Finerty is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with more than twenty years of experience at the Department of State, most recently serving as Deputy Executive Secretary. A specialist in multilateral diplomatic engagement and negotiation, Tressa led teams at U.S. Missions to the United Nations in New York and Geneva.  An expert in humanitarian and refugee policy, she taught courses on international refugee practices at NYU, led emergency humanitarian operations to welcome freed politician prisoners from Nicaragua in 2023, and created the Dulles Afghan Refugee Transit Center, which rapidly brought nearly fifty thousand Afghans to safety in 2021.  She built the first-ever in-country refugee processing center, for Iraqis fleeing the war there (2008-9). Tressa has also served at U.S. embassies in Malaysia, Iraq, Armenia, and Thailand, in Washington in the office for North Korea Policy, and as a board member of Executive Women @ State, supporting women for senior leadership positions.  

Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Tressa was a business strategy and change management consultant.  She holds a BA and MBA from The George Washington University and is a member of the Board of Directors of Up With People, an international youth leadership organization.  

As a disclaimer that our listeners know well - The opinions expressed in this conversation are strictly those of Jeff and Tressa and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of State or the U.S. Government.

Episode recorded: May 2, 2023

Produced by Daniel Henderson

Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world. 

Funding support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. 

For more, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter @GUDiplomacy. Send any feedback to [email protected].