— UPDATE: Please note that due to a late breaking scheduling conflict, the new date of this event is May 15, 2024 —
***
The Acting Legal Adviser of the Department of State
and
the Washington Foreign Law Society
are pleased to present the
2024 Diplomatic Reception
honoring
Ukraine
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Benjamin Franklin Room
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC
H.E. Oksana Markarova is Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States (since February 2021), Permanent Observer of Ukraine to the Organization of American States (since May 2021) and Ambassador of Ukraine to Antigua and Barbuda (since July 2023).
Before she arrived in DC on Apr 20, 2021, she served in Ukraine’s Ministry of Finance in 2015-2020 as First deputy Minister and Government commissioner on investments and then since 2018 as a Minister of Finance. During her time at the Ministry she was a co-author of Ukraine’s macroeconomic revival program, has conducted unprecedented fiscal consolidation leading to deficit to GDP of 2% and debt to GDP reduction to below 50%, introduced midterm budgeting, gender oriented budgeting as well as negotiated, structured and coordinated successfully two IMF programs and other IFI cooperation programs. During her tenure she and her team has also created UkraineInvest government promotion agency, Ukrainian Startup fund and an eData ecosystem of government public finance portals including spending.gov.ua, openbudget.gov.ua and analytical instrument BOOST, which opened the majority of the public finance data to the public and increased Ukraine in all major international data transparency ratings.
Prior to career in public service Mrs. Markarova spent 17 years working in private equity and financial advisory having leadership roles in ITT investment group, Western NIS Enterprise Fund, Chemonics and and World bank, as well as founded Archidata startup electronic archive company in between service positions in 2020.
Richard C. Visek joined the Department of State’s Office of the Legal Adviser in 1999 and became a Deputy Legal Adviser in 2011 and the Principal Deputy Legal Adviser in 2016. He also serves as the Department’s Designated Agency Ethics Official. He previously served as the Assistant Legal Adviser for European and Eurasian Affairs and as the Assistant Legal Adviser for Employment Law. Prior to being promoted into the Senior Executive Service, he served in L offices advising on issues related to law enforcement and intelligence, appropriations, and legislation. Before joining the Office of the Legal Adviser, Mr. Visek worked at the U.S. Department of Justice and at the law firm of Hogan & Hartson in Washington, DC. He has taught courses in law at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC and at Tartu University in Estonia. Over the course of his career, Mr. Visek has received numerous awards, including two Distinguished and one Meritorious Presidential Rank Awards, the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award, and the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award. He received his BA from Stanford University, JD from Georgetown University, and LLM from Cambridge University.
**Registrations close on Friday, May 10, 2024**
Reduced rates are available for WFLS Members, students, US government employees, and members of the diplomatic community. For more information on WFLS Membership, please visit: https://www.wfls.org/memberships.