BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.1.7//EN TZID:America/Anchorage X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/Anchorage BEGIN:VEVENT UID:200@alaskaworldaffairs.org DTSTART;TZID=America/Anchorage:20160126T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/Anchorage:20160126T130000 DTSTAMP:20231222T084020Z URL:https://alaskaworldaffairs.org/archived-events/arctic-executive-steeri ng-committee/ SUMMARY:Ambassador Mark Brzezinski on "Arctic Executive Steering Committee - One Year On: Report from the Executive Director" DESCRIPTION: \;\n\nSpeaker Bio:\n\nFormer United States Ambassador to S weden Mark Brzezinski serves as Executive Director of the U.S. Government' s Arctic Executive Steering Committee. On January 21st\, 2015\, in recogni tion of the unique challenges and opportunities presented by the Arctic\, President Obama issued an Executive Order to enhance coordination of natio nal efforts in the Arctic. The Executive Order creates expanded opportunit ies for Alaskans and those in the Federal government to work on Arctic iss ues and establishes a clear structure to improve the coordination of Feder al Arctic activity.\n\nAn Arctic Executive Steering Committee (AESC) was e stablished to oversee implementation of the National Strategy for the Arct ic Region (https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/03/27/white-house-releases -implementation-report-national-strategy-arctic). The AESC convenes at the Deputy Secretary level to guide the development of department and agency plans to assure that Federal activity is well-coordinated and better commu nicated to partners such as the State of Alaska\, Alaska Native communitie s\, the U.S. Congress\, the business community\, international partners\, and other stakeholders.\nAs U.S. Ambassador to Sweden between 2011-2015\, Mark worked closely with the Swedish Government during its Chairmanship of the Arctic Council. The U.S. is one of eight member nations of the Arctic Council\, and currently is the Council's Chair. In May 2013\, Mark joined the U.S. Delegation led by Secretary of State John Kerry to the Arctic Co uncil Ministerial in Kiruna\, Sweden\, above the Arctic Circle. At that mi nisterial\, key agreements involving Arctic search and rescue\, oil spill preparedness and cleanup\, and inclusion of non-Arctic nations as Arctic C ouncil observers were advanced. In September 2013\, Mark welcomed Presiden t Barack Obama to Stockholm for a historic\, first ever visit by a sitting U.S. President to Sweden's capital. In Stockholm\, President Obama and al l five heads of government of the Nordic countries met together to discuss a shared approach to climate change and the future of the Arctic among ot her issues.\n\nMark made the Arctic a central focus of his tenure in Swede n. Speaking in February 2015 at Dartmouth College where he gave the Montgo mery Fellowship lecture on the Arctic\, Mark noted that "the Arctic is sim ultaneously a strategic problem and a human problem." At the U.S. Embassy\ , he developed new partnerships with government and diplomats\, business\, media and entertainment\, and the environmental and NGO community to cons ider the link between what is happening in the Arctic and what is happenin g in the rest of the world. He used new communications and social-media to ols to share how the looming crisis confronting the Arctic is a tangible p review of the crisis confronting the world as a whole. Mark initiated and helped develop the new U.S. Fulbright Scholarship devoted to the study of the future of the Arctic. The new Arctic Fulbright\, funded by the State D epartment\, is a unique two-year program composed of researchers selected from the eight Arctic Council countries.\n\nMark served on the National Se curity Council staff under President Clinton between 1999-2001\, first as Director for Russia and Eurasia\, then as Director for the Balkans. He rec eived his undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College\, his law degree at th e University of Virginia Law School and has Doctorate in political science from Oxford University. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Warsaw\, Poland bet ween 1991-1993. He was a partner at a Washington\, DC law firm before join ing the Obama Administration\, and is a member of the Council on Foreign R elations.\n\n\n\n \; ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://alaskaworldaffairs.org/wp-content/upload s/2015/12/Brzezinski-Photo.jpg CATEGORIES:Arctic Series,International Program Series LOCATION:Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center\, 600 W 7th Ave\, Anchorage\ , Anchorage\, AK\, 99501\, United States GEO:61.21509609999999;-149.8945164 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS= 600 W 7th Ave\, Anchorage\ , Anchorage\, AK\, 99501\, United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=Dena'i na Civic and Convention Center:geo:61.21509609999999,-149.8945164 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Anchorage X-LIC-LOCATION:America/Anchorage BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20151101T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0900 TZNAME:AKST END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR