In the spirit of Penn’s commitment to embracing global engagement, Andrea Mitchell will conduct a far-ranging conversation with Ambassador David L. Cohen and Ambassador Amy Gutmann on their experiences as diplomats. They will discuss what best prepared them for their positions, what its greatest perils and pleasures were, and lessons learned. They will address the challenges of defending democratic sovereignty, security, and economic progress and the job of diplomacy when personal beliefs may be at odds with the “official” positions of Washington.
Speakers
David L. Cohen was nominated to be U.S. ambassador to Canada by President Joe Biden, and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Prior to that appointment, he served as senior advisor to the CEO at Comcast Corporation as of January 1, 2020. He was previously senior executive vice president at Comcast NBCUniversal, where his portfolio included corporate communications, legal affairs, government and regulatory affairs, public affairs, corporate administration, corporate real estate and security, and community impact. Cohen also served as the company’s first chief diversity officer. Before starting with Comcast in July 2002, Cohen served as a partner in and chairman of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP, one of the 100 largest law firms in the country. From January 1992 to April 1997, Cohen served as chief of staff to the Honorable Edward G. Rendell, the mayor of Philadelphia. He has served on many nonprofit boards, including as chair of the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania and its Executive Committee; as chair of the trustee board and the executive committee of Penn Medicine; as chair of the board of directors and the executive committee of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce; as chair of the Philadelphia Theatre Company; as a member of the Board of the National Urban League; and as chair of the corporate board of advisors of UnidosUS.
Amy Gutmann is a prize-winning scholar, teacher, university leader, and diplomat. She has published and lectured widely on democracy and education; deliberation, compromise, diplomacy, and their critics; bioethics and access to health care; human rights; identity politics; and ethics in public affairs. Gutmann served as U.S. ambassador to Germany (2022-24). During her tenure, the German relationship with the United States became stronger than ever in the post-WWII period, on multiple measures including support for Ukraine’s defense against Putin, increased trade and investment, and resistance to rising extremism. Gutmann was the eighth and longest serving president of Penn, serving from 2004 to 2022. Named by Fortune in 2018 as one of the “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders,” Gutmann is renowned for championing affordable access to education and health care, innovative discoveries that save lives and propel economies forward, global engagement, and public-private partnerships.
Andrea Mitchell is NBC News’ chief Washington and chief foreign affairs correspondent, reporting on political and international news for NBC Nightly News, the Today Show, Meet the Press, and the network’s digital and streaming platforms. She has covered every presidential campaign for NBC News since 1980, and for 17 years also anchored “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” a weekday program of political and foreign policy news on MSNBC. A pioneer in her field, Mitchell is known for her tenacity whether she is covering domestic politics or reporting from conflict zones in Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, or the Middle East. Mitchell has been honored for her distinguished reporting, receiving the lifetime achievement award at the 40th annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards, The International Radio and Television Society Foundation’s Giant of Broadcasting and Electronic Arts Honor, the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the Freedom of the Press Award from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the sixth annual Washington Women in Journalism Awards. A Penn alumna, she is a former vice chair of the Board of Trustees and founder of the Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy in the College of Arts and Sciences. In 2018, she was the University’s commencement speaker and received an honorary doctorate of humanities from the University.
Welcoming remarks by
Michael Weisberg is the deputy director of Perry World House and the Bess W. Heyman president’s distinguished professor of philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. A climate diplomat, philosopher of science, climate policy researcher, and experienced academic leader, he has negotiated and achieved collective outcomes in the complex landscape of climate, ocean, and development issues at the highest levels of international diplomacy. An expert on the climate needs of small island developing states, Weisberg currently serves as senior advisor to Jamaica’s permanent representative to the United Nations and as an advisor to the Fiji and Palau negotiating teams at COP. Weisberg was a leading voice in the development of the “mosaic of solutions” for addressing loss and damage due to the adverse impacts of climate change, which led to major breakthroughs on the topic at COP27 and COP28. This framework was developed in collaboration with the Maldivian Government and the International Peace Institute, where he is a non-resident senior advisor.