ACPD Public Meeting Panelist Biographies: February 24, 2022

PUBLIC MEETING PANELIST BIOGRAPHIES

U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy Quarterly Meeting

Thursday, February 24, 2022 | 12:00 p.m. – 1:20 p.m. EST

Virtual Public Meeting (Zoom Webinar Platform)

Virginia Elliot

Public Affairs Officer

U.S. Embassy in Ghana

Virginia Lee Stern Elliott joined the Department of State as a foreign service officer in 2006.  She currently serves as Public Affairs Counselor at U.S. Embassy Ghana.  She came to Accra, Ghana from Algiers, Algeria where she served as Regional Counterterrorism Policy Coordinator for the Sahel and Maghreb regions.  Before that, she worked in Washington, D.C. as Media Unite Chief for the Bureau of Consular Affairs where she oversaw press and public messaging on visas and immigration policy from 2016-2018.

From 2014-2016, Virginia worked in the Bureau of African Affairs as the Zimbabwe desk officer.  She has also served overseas in Paramaribo, Suriname, as Public Affairs Officer, in Brussels, Belgium at both the U.S. Embassy and U.S. Mission to the European Union in public diplomacy and consular roles, and in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire as a consular officer.  Virginia earned an MBA from Thunderbird and a B.A. from Scripps College.  She is conversant in French and Dutch.

Shayna Cram

Public Affairs Officer

U.S. Embassy in The Kyrgyz Republic

Hailing from Michigan, Shayna Cram is a U.S. Foreign Service Officer who is passionate about connecting cultures, furthering U.S. interests, and promoting U.S. values through diplomacy. Shayna joined the State Department in 2008 and has served in Public Affairs postings in the Republic of the Congo, Pakistan, Ecuador, the Kyrgyz Republic, and in Washington, D.C. She is currently the Public Affairs Section Chief at U.S. Embassy Bishkek, where she manages a team of 21 staff and a budget of over $5 million for bilateral and regional programs.

Prior to the Foreign Service, Shayna coordinated democracy promotion programs for a social justice NGO in Brazil, led HIV/AIDS prevention and community health promotion efforts as a Peace Corps volunteer in Togo, and assisted at-risk Hispanic youth to avoid gang violence as a therapist for a civil society organization in Colorado. She is fluent in Spanish, French, and Portuguese and has professional proficiency in Russian and Pashto languages. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of San Diego and a M.A. in International Administration from the University of Denver.

Shayna enjoys spending time with her two children, reading, volunteering as a coach for Girls on the Run, and practicing as a yoga instructor. Her next assignment is in Washington, D.C. where she will work as a Pearson Fellow for U.S. Congress.

Arthur “Tuck” Evans

Public Affairs Officer

U.S. Embassy in Guatemala

Arthur “Tuck” Evans is the Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City since August 2020 where he coordinates a budget of $2.4 million in support of embassy exchanges, cultural programs, and strategic communications.  His previous tours include the following: Assistant Press Officer in Mexico City covering migration, USMCA and trade from 2017-2020; Public Affairs Officer in Asuncion 2014-2017; and Assistant Cultural Affairs Officer in Kyiv 2011-2014.  His first tour was as press officer in Tbilisi in the leadup to the Russian invasion. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Tuck was a Peace Corps Volunteer and United Nations Volunteer in Kyrgyzstan.