Global I.Q. Podcast World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth

Throughout U.S. history there are presidents whose qualities separated them from the rest and propelled them to the highest office Washington’s honesty, Lincoln’s leadership, Kennedy’s charisma, Roosevelt’s fortitude, the list could go on. But which of these qualities can be transferred to the next generation? What leadership lessons apply today? In Talmage Boston’s new book, How the Best did it: Leadership Lesson’s From our top Presidents, he explores the best qualities of former U.S. presidents and what we can learn from them. Historian and Council friend Jon Meacham calls it “A discerning examination of what all of us can learn from some of our most effective leaders who have held—and wielded—ultimate power at the highest level.”

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Talmage Boston is a partner at the Shackelford Law Firm in Dallas. He is also a former board member of the World Affairs Council and a member of the Mallon Circle, an honorary body comprised of members who have served the Council with distinction. He is a historian, author, speaker, and interviewer. Boston has spoken at the National Archives, six presidential libraries, 12 World Affairs Councils, and many universities. He has had the pleasure of having previously interviewed Henry Kissinger.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Liz Brailsford joined the Council in February 2021 from the World Affairs Councils of America, the network’s national office in Washington, DC, where she served as chief operating officer. Liz currently serves as an international task force member of the Dallas Regional Chamber; an ex-officio board member with the North Texas Commission; and an advisory committee member of the U.S. Global Leadership Commission of the Southwest region. She holds an M.P.A. in global policy from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School and a B.A. in media arts from the University of South Carolina.
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Do you believe in the importance of international education and connections? The nonprofit World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth is supported by gifts from people like you, who share our passion for engaging in dialogue on global affairs and building bridges of understanding. While the Council is not currently charging admission for virtual events, we ask you to please consider making a one-time or recurring gift to help us keep the conversation going through informative public programs and targeted events for students and teachers.

Donate: https://www.dfwworld.org/donate

KEYNOTE – Salvatore A. Giunta

Specialist Salvatore A. Giunta distinguished himself at the risk of his life in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan, on October 25, 2007. While under heavy enemy fire, Specialist Giunta sprinted towards cover and engaged the enemy. After seeing that his squad leader had fallen, Specialist Giunta exposed himself to enemy fire and raced towards his squad leader, helped him to cover, and administered medical aid. While administering first aid, enemy fire struck Specialist Giunta’s body armor and his secondary weapon. Amidst the ongoing fire, Specialist Giunta continued to engage the enemy before prepping and throwing grenades, using the explosions for cover to hide his position. Attempting to reach additional wounded fellow soldiers, Specialist Giunta and his team encountered a barrage of enemy fire that forced them to the ground. Specialist Giunta’s unwavering courage, selflessness, and decisive leadership while under extreme fire were integral to his platoon’s ability to defeat an enemy ambush and recover a fellow American soldier from the enemy. On September 10, 2010, the White House announced that Staff Sgt. Giunta would receive the Medal of Honor, the first awarded to a living recipient since the Vietnam War.
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Do you believe in the importance of international education and connections? The nonprofit World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth is supported by gifts from people like you, who share our passion for engaging in dialogue on global affairs and building bridges of understanding. While the Council is not currently charging admission for virtual events, we ask you to please consider making a one-time or recurring gift to help us keep the conversation going through informative public programs and targeted events for students and teachers.

Donate: https://www.dfwworld.org/donate

Cyberspace is like the Wild West – a vast and lawless land. Both cyber warfare and cyberweapons have been used in the Russo-Ukrainian war. Rapid technology advancement and global dynamics challenge governments to protect military and critical infrastructures. Can the 2024 U.S. election occur without interference? Cyber expert Christopher Whyte joins us this January as we kick off our annual International Perspectives Series with The Shifting Geopolitics of Cyber Conflict: American Strategy in a Time of Change.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr. Christopher Whyte is an assistant professor of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness at Virginia Commonwealth University. His research focuses on the decision-making dynamics of cyber operations, digital age influence campaigns, and the impact of artificial intelligence on cyber conflict. Whyte is author/co-author of nearly three dozen peer-reviewed articles on these subjects, numerous other articles/reports and four books on cyber conflict, including Information in War, published with Georgetown University Press in 2022.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Valmiki Mukherjee is a distinguished Global CISO, Entrepreneur, and Philanthropist CEO, boasting a remarkable two-decade career that has significantly impacted the global cybersecurity landscape. Renowned for his visionary leadership, Mukherjee extends his influence beyond organizational and industry confines, orchestrating transformative programs globally. As the founder of the Cyber Future Foundation (CFF) in 2015, he has created a vital platform connecting leaders and experts worldwide. Mukherjee’s philanthropic initiatives, such as supporting cybersecurity education and workforce development programs, demonstrate his commitment to creating a safer world. Currently serving as the Board Appointed Global CISO of Accolite, he previously held executive roles, including Managing Director at EY. Mukherjee holds a Master’s degree in Computer Engineering from the University of North Texas and is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) by ISC2.
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Do you believe in the importance of international education and connections? The nonprofit World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth is supported by gifts from people like you, who share our passion for engaging in dialogue on global affairs and building bridges of understanding. While the Council is not currently charging admission for virtual events, we ask you to please consider making a one-time or recurring gift to help us keep the conversation going through informative public programs and targeted events for students and teachers.

Donate: https://www.dfwworld.org/donate

Since Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin have been in power, Russia and China have been each other’s biggest cheerleaders. Director of China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Bonny Lin notes that “the bond has been decades in the making, but Russia’s war in Ukraine has tightened their embrace.” Leading the BRIC alliance (Brazil, Russia, India, and China), they see the global south as the key to push back against U.S. hegemony in the west. Join the Council in part II of the International Perspectives Series Ordering Disorder: Governing the World to Come with Charles Kupchan to discuss the future of geopolitics and world order.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Charles A. Kupchan is professor of international affairs in the School of Foreign Service and Government department at Georgetown University, and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. From 2014 to 2017, Kupchan served as special assistant to the President and senior director for European Affairs on the National Security Council in the Obama White House. He was also director for European Affairs on the National Security Council during the first Clinton administration. His most recent books are Anchoring the World: International Order in the Twenty-First Century (2021), Isolationism: A History of America’s Efforts to Shield Itself from the World (2020), No One’s World: The West, the Rising Rest, and the Coming Global Turn (2012), and How Enemies Become Friends: The Sources of Stable Peace (2010).
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Do you believe in the importance of international education and connections? The nonprofit World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth is supported by gifts from people like you, who share our passion for engaging in dialogue on global affairs and building bridges of understanding. While the Council is not currently charging admission for virtual events, we ask you to please consider making a one-time or recurring gift to help us keep the conversation going through informative public programs and targeted events for students and teachers.

Donate: https://www.dfwworld.org/donate

In 2023, 39.1% of all U.S. businesses were owned by female entrepreneurs. The number of women elected in congressional leadership has increased by 15% in the past 20 years. Today, women make up 28% of the 118th U.S. congress. That said, of the 193 member states of the United Nations, only 13 of those leaders are women. There is still much work to be done.

Join the Council and Texas Woman’s University in observation of International Women’s Day on March 12. The Council will host a panel discussion featuring Dallas’ very own Nina Vaca, chairman and CEO of Pinnacle Group, and Hattie Hill, President & CEO of Hattie Hill Enterprises, to discuss women who lead in such a way that encourages other women leaders. The conversation will be moderated by Dr. Rama Yelkur, dean of Texas Woman’s University’s College of Business.

ABOUT THE PANELISTS

Hattie Hill has spent more than three decades developing successful global diversity and inclusion and gender equity strategies for corporations, nonprofits and foundations across 70 countries, including IBM, Southwest Airlines and McDonald’s. Partnering with Fortune 500 CEO’s, she’s driven significant cultural change by prioritizing the importance that businesses and people place on diversity. Her belief that talent and culture is the new corporate currency and her desire to see people of all backgrounds and gender enjoy amazing success is what motivates her passionate pursuit of equity. Her prophetic sensitivities and experience over the past 30 years have profoundly impacted the way that many of today’s organizations approach diversity and inclusion and gender equity. Above all, Hattie is adept at discovering the root of the problem and providing a practical, strategic resolution.

Nina Vaca embodies the American Dream as a pioneering Latina entrepreneur, philanthropist, and global leader. She founded Pinnacle Group in 1996 and has since served as its Chairman and CEO. Under her leadership, Pinnacle has experienced rapid growth, evolving from a one-woman IT staffing firm into a leading provider of workforce solutions across various industries such as telecommunications, financial services, transportation, and technology. Pinnacle expanded nationwide in 2007, entered the Canadian market in 2009, and is now expanding internationally to Europe, Latin America, the Asia Pacific, and beyond. The company has been recognized in the Inc. 500/5000 list of fastest-growing companies 13 times and was named the fastest-growing women-owned/led company by the Women Presidents’ Organization in 2015 and 2018.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR:

Dr. Rama Yelkur, dean of the College of Business at Texas Woman’s University, leads with a wealth of academic and consulting experience. She has held leadership roles at St. John Fisher University and Saginaw Valley State University, fostering global competence among business students and establishing partnerships worldwide. With extensive expertise in marketing, she has published in top journals and conducted international corporate training. Dr. Yelkur also boasts three decades of consulting in sports marketing and advertising, notably with Kimberly Clark and the NFL. Actively engaged in various boards and professional organizations, she is committed to leadership development and holds a Doctorate in Business Administration from Mississippi State University, an MBA from PSG College of Technology, and a BSc. in Mathematics from Ethiraj College for Women, India.


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“America’s secret weapon is a blue note in a minor key,” proclaimed the New York Times. In the late 1950’s, President Eisenhower looked to fight the Cold War using the cool weapon of jazz. The State Department hoped that showcasing popular American music around the globe would not only introduce audiences to American culture, but also win them over as ideological allies in the cold war. Jazz, structured around improvisation within a set of commonly agreed-upon boundaries, was a perfect metaphor for America in the eyes of the State Department. Renowned artists such as Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie and Dave Brubeck toured the globe promoting United States’ culture. Brubeck’s father would famously announce before the crowds, “No dictatorship can tolerate jazz, it is the first sign of a return to freedom.” Join us to explore how the U.S. State Department contracted jazz performers to fight the Cold War in the form of Jazz Diplomacy.

ABOUT THE PANELISTS

Dr. W. Marvin Dulaney is an adjunct professor at UNT Dallas and President of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History who has dedicated his forty-two-year career to teaching American and African American history. As an emeritus associate professor of history, former interim director of the Center for African American Studies, and past chair of the department of history at the University of Texas, Arlington, he has left a significant impact on academia. Dulaney is a graduate of Central State University and Ohio State University and has actively engaged with communities in Charleston and Dallas-Fort Worth as part of his commitment to bring history to the people. His extensive service on boards, including the Texas State Historical Association, and his numerous publications showcase his dedication to preserving and advancing African American history and civil rights. Dr. Dulaney is currently working on a history of African Americans in Dallas.

Rick Ruth is a dedicated builder committed to creating institutions that uphold individual dignity and reject violence and extremism. As a senior State Department official on 9/11, he played a crucial role in guiding the department’s response and proposed the U.S. government’s inaugural high school exchange program for the Arab and Muslim world, known today as the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Program. This program has engaged more than 15,000 young individuals from 40+ countries. Ruth’s innovative approach involves countering disinformation through positively focused cross-border networks and establishing the State Department’s first global alumni network. He introduced cultural heritage as a non-political component of American leadership and rescued the Summer Work Travel program. A skilled global diplomat, particularly focused on Russia and the Middle East, Ruth is a recipient of the Department of State’s Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Public Diplomacy and the 2016 Alumnus of the Year at the University of Arizona’s College of Humanities.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Emily Abrams Ansari is Assistant Dean of Research and Associate Professor of Music History at Western University in Canada. Her scholarly research, which has won a number of awards, examines music’s political usages and engagements across the Americas. Her 2017 book, The Sound of a Superpower: Musical Americanism and the Cold War, explored the effects of the Cold War on musical nationalism in the United States and classical composers’ involvement with federally-funded cultural diplomacy initiatives. Her current projects interrogate Cold War-era music in El Salvador and Canada.