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AFB Hosts German Honorary Consuls for Luncheon

On November 15th, American Friends of Bucerius and the ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius hosted the German Honorary Consuls for lunch in Washington DC as part of the bi-annual Consular Conference. Together with the German Embassy in Washington, DC and the eight Consulates General throughout the United States, the Honorary Consuls help to promote German-US relations while also assisting US and German citizens in matters related to Germany. Bucerius hosted the Consuls for lunch during the previous Consular Conferences in Hamburg in 2014 and in Berlin in 2012.

After welcoming remarks from Deputy Chief of Mission Boris Ruge, AFB President Nina Smidt, and AFB Board Co-Chair Jim Hanks, there was a keynote talk by Dr. Jeffrey Anderson on the future of transatlantic affairs in light of the US presidential elections. Dr. Anderson is the Graf Goltz Professor and Director of the BMW Center for German and European Studies at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, as well as a Bucerius Governance Advisor.

Dr. Anderson received a BA from Pomona College in 1981, and a PhD in Political Science from Yale University in 1988. He has taught previously at Emory University and Brown University. Dr. Anderson works at the intersection of comparative political economy and European integration, and has numerous publications in the area. He is the recipient of the 2000 DAAD Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in German Studies.

Following Dr. Anderson’s remarks, International Bucerius Law School Alum James Benson spoke about his time at law school, and discussed the role an international education has played both in his career and within the organizations where he has worked. Mr. Benson is currently Associate General Counsel at Howard Hughes Medical Institute.