5:30 pm:  Registration and networking happy hour in the Phipps Conservatory rainforest

6:30 pm: Dinner served

7:30 pm:  Welcome by CMIST Director Audrey Kurth Cronin

7:35 pm:  Opening remarks by CMU Provost Jim Garrett

7:45 pm:  Keynote address by Ambassador Nathaniel Fick

8:05 pm:  Panel discussion with esteemed foreign dignitaries moderated by CMIST Director Audrey Kurth Cronin

8:45 pm: Closing remarks

9:00 pm:  Event ends

Ambassador Nathaniel "Nate" Fick

Nathaniel C. Fick was sworn in on September 21, 2022 as the inaugural U.S. Ambassador at Large for Cyberspace and Digital Policy.

Prior to joining the State Department, Ambassador Fick was a technology executive and entrepreneur. He was CEO of the cybersecurity software company Endgame from 2012 through its acquisition by Elastic in 2019. Thereafter, he led Elastic’s information security business globally. Ambassador Fick spent nearly a decade as an operating partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, working with management teams to build technology businesses. In 2018, he was named by Fast Company magazine as one of the “100 Most Creative People in Business,” and Endgame was selected by Forbes as one of the “100 Best Cloud Companies in the World.”

From 2009 to 2012, Ambassador Fick was CEO of the Center for a New American Security, a national security research organization in Washington. Earlier in his career, he served as a Marine Corps infantry and reconnaissance officer, including combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. His book about that experience, One Bullet Away, was a New York Times bestseller, a Washington Post "Best Book of the Year," and one of the Military Times's "Best Military Books of the Decade.”

Ambassador Fick graduated with high honors in Classics from Dartmouth College and holds an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

James H. Garrett Jr., Provost and Chief Academic Officer

James H. Garrett Jr. was named provost and chief academic officer of Carnegie Mellon University in January 2019 and was appointed for a second term in January 2024. A member of the faculty since 1990, Garrett previously served as dean of CMU's College of Engineering from 2013 to 2018. Prior to that, he spent six years as head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

As the university's chief academic officer, Garrett is responsible for leading CMU's schools, colleges, institutes, and campuses and is instrumental in institutional and academic planning and implementation. In this leadership role, he has partnered with leaders across the university to expand access and affordability efforts to meet the full financial needs of our student body. He has also had a strong focus on student success and experience so that students have the tools and opportunities they need to thrive at CMU and beyond. As provost, Garrett has made investments in supporting the holistic graduate student experience, recruiting and retaining world class faculty, and promoting equitable access to a CMU education via the launch of initiatives such as the Tartan Scholars program, the Rales Fellows program and the Student Academic Success Center. Under Garrett’s leadership, CMU launched its online, graduate-level certificate programs with initial offerings in artificial intelligence, 3D bioprinting and biofabrication, and computational data science. He also chaired the Commission on Academic Freedom and Freedom of Expression. Garrett is deeply committed to the values of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, and to fostering an environment where all members of our community have a sense of belonging.

Audrey Kurth Cronin, CMIST Director

Audrey Kurth Cronin is Trustees Professor of Security and Technology and Director of the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy & Technology (CMIST).

Cronin’s best-known book is How Terrorism Ends: Understanding the Decline and Demise of Terrorist Campaigns (Princeton, 2009), which the New Yorker called a “landmark study.” Her latest book, Power to the People: How Open Technological Innovation is Arming Tomorrow’s Terrorists (Oxford, 2020), analyzes emerging technologies and devises a new framework for analyzing 21st century military innovation. It was short-listed for the Lionel Gelber prize and won the 2020 Neave prize.

Cronin was a Marshall Scholar from Princeton University, earned a DPhil from the University of Oxford, and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard. Formerly Distinguished Professor at American University, she founded and directed the Center for Security, Innovation and New Technology in Washington, DC. She has been director of the core course on War and Statecraft at the National War College, Director of Studies for the Changing Character of War program at the University of Oxford, and Specialist in Terrorism at the Congressional Research Service. She has also served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy and frequently advises at senior levels. She was Chairman of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Terrorism and is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Paula Bogantes Zamora,  Minister of the Ministry of Science, Innovation, Technology and Telecommunications (MICITT), Costa Rica

Ms. Bogantes holds a master’s degree in international Trade and Markets from LEAD University, as well as a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Universidad Internacional de las Américas. Ms. Bogantes has a specialization in organizational leadership from Georgetown University and is currently pursuing a diploma in Digital Transformation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Prior to her appointment as Minister of the Ministry of Science, Innovation, Technology and Telecommunications (MICITT), Ms. Bogantes served as Vice Minister of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica and was the President of the National Trade Facilitation Council (CONAFAC). She also worked at the Costa Rican Coalition for Development Initiatives (CI NDE) as the manager for the Digital Technologies, Advanced Manufacturing, and Clean Technologies sectors. Additionally, she has worked as a consultant for international organizations such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) on public policy issues related to competitiveness, innovation, and technology, in collaboration with MICITT, the academia, and the private sector. She also contributed to the development of a national proposal for the creation of an Innovation Agency and a Public Innovation Laboratory. Bogantes Zamora has extensive experience in developing strategies to attract foreign investment in industries such as cloud computing, cybersecurity, aerospace, automotive, and medical devices. She is native speaker of Spanish and is fluent in English. 

Benedikt Wechsler, PhD, Ambassador, Head of Division for Digitalisation State Secretariat, Switzerland

Born in Basel in 1967, Benedikt Wechsler held several journalism and editorial positions upon completion of his traineeship at the European Commission as well as in the private sector. After studies in Business Administration and Political Science at the University of St. Gallen, he received there his PhD in 1995. One year later, he joined the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. His early diplomatic career took him to the Permanent Mission of Switzerland and to the UN and EU in New York and Brussels. Benedikt’s professional portfolio includes his appointment as five-time Diplomatic Advisor to Swiss Presidents (2001/2002 and 2006-2007) and Ambassador Chief of Staff of the Minister of Foreign Affairs (2008-2012). Under his leadership (2016-2019), the Swiss Embassy in Denmark invented the “Open Embassy and Pop-up Embassy” approach, which won the Danish Design Award in the category of Game Changer. He strengthened the science diplomacy in Greenland and initiated a multistakeholder expedition to the Arctic. From 2019-2021, Benedikt Wechsler has been serving as the Consul General of Switzerland in San Francisco representing his country in 13 U.S. States and pioneering in the Silicon Valley in the field of tech diplomacy. Since July 2021, Benedikt Wechsler is heading the first Division for Digitalisation as an Ambassador within the State Secretariat and is charged with the implementation of the Swiss Digital Foreign Policy Strategy.