Meridian Joins White House Social Secretary Deesha Dyer in Honoring Embassy Social Secretaries

On July 7, 2016, Meridian International Center joined with White House Social Secretary Deesha Dyer in honoring more than 35 Embassy Social Secretaries. Often referred to as the "heartbeat" of diplomatic missions, social secretaries play the critical roles of maintaining the Embassy’s positive public image, and spearhead relationship building with a broad range of constituents including the diplomatic community, members of the U.S. government, the business community, and their diaspora. The cocktail reception was attended by several high-ranking U.S. government officials, including Vice President Joe Biden’s Social Secretary Carlos Elizondo and Deputy Chief of Protocol at the U.S. Department of State Nick Schmidt. Social Secretaries in attendance were from Afghanistan, Angola, Azerbaijan, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Botswana, Bulgaria, Canada, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Kazakhstan, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Panama, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Sweden, Trinidad and Tobago, and Zambia.

In recognizing the important role of social secretaries, Meridian’s President and CEO Ambassador Stuart Holliday emphasized "You create the kind of interconnections in Washington that are so important". Ms. Dyer joined Ambassador Holliday in recognizing the importance of social secretaries and remarked that "We (social secretaries) bring people together – people from all different kinds of religions and races and backgrounds and foreign countries". Ms. Dyer also referred to the strong bond between the group as an "incredible support network".