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Mary Ann Peters Highlight
Failure is an acceptable risk. If you are going to tackle the tough problems, you have to be prepared to fail every once in awhile.
About Mary Ann
- Was born and raised in California.
- Received her bachelor's and master’s degrees in international relations.
- Says while she was not a part of the first wave of women entering diplomatic service, she knew those women and had tremendous respect for the sacrifices they made that enabled her to enter the field.
- In the early ’70s, female diplomats who got married were forced to resign—she decided to join anyways and began her service in 1975 where she advocated for more women to join.
- She worked for over 30 years as a career diplomat with the U.S. Department of State, serving in Canada, Germany, Bulgaria, Russia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and many more.
- She became the United States ambassador to Bangladesh in 2000 and led the embassy’s response to the war on terrorism—was awarded a Presidential Meritorious Service Award in 2003 for her work.
- After retiring from foreign service, she transitioned into education, serving as dean of academics at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies and provost of the Naval War College.
- She is now the executive director of The Carter Center and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and Women in International Security.
