Ambassador (ret.) Harriet L. Elam-Thomas, during her four decade Foreign Service career, demonstrated a life-long practice of bridging cultures. With unique vision and insight, Ambassador Elam-Thomas placed a human face on diplomacy. Her varied overseas assignments took her to Greece, Turkey, France, Belgium, Senegal, Mali and Cote d’Ivoire. Domestic assignments included Counselor (the most senior career position) and Acting Deputy Director of the U.S. Information Agency (now a part of the Department of State), Foreign Service Personnel in Washington, the United Nations in New York and the White House in Washington, DC. Ambassador Elam-Thomas fulfilled her commitment to serve the national interest through public diplomacy despite almost daily exposure to terrorist acts while serving as Cultural Attaché in Greece, Director of the Press and Cultural Center in Turkey and as the U.S. Ambassador to Senegal from January 2000 to December 2002.

Her performance abroad brought unprecedented recognition from the Prime Minister of Turkey, cultural leaders in Greece as well as meritorious and superior honor awards from the Department of State. Additionally, Ambassador Elam-Thomas has been the recipient of four honorary doctorates, from Simmons College in Boston, the American University in London, Suffolk University in Boston and the University of Central Florida in Orlando. She holds a B.S. degree in International Business from Simmons College in Boston and a M.S. in Public Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts University. She was a member of the Senior Advisory Group of the European Command, the Board of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, the Institute for International Education, and Simmons College Cooperators. She was the 2007 recipient of the Director General’s Cup for the Foreign Service. That award is presented to retired career diplomats who have made significant contributions to the advancement of U.S. foreign policy during the service to the nation. In May 2008 she was appointed to the American Academy of Diplomacy. From 2010-2012, she served on the Academy’s Board of Directors. She speaks French, Greek and Turkish.

Formerly the Diplomat-in-Residence at the University of Central Florida, Ambassador Elam-Thomas currently directs the Diplomacy Program at the University. Her memoir, published in December 2017 is entitled: Diversifying Diplomacy: My Journey from Roxbury to Dakar. Ambassador Elam-Thomas was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She and her husband Wilfred J. Thomas reside in Central Florida.