Dear Fellows and Friends,
I want to wish you a healthy and happy start to the spring season. I would also like to share my excitement at having Dr. Robin Renee Sanders join our Advisory Board. A former senior career U.S. diplomat, Dr. Sanders now spearheads efforts at improving business and trade relationships between the U.S. and African nations through her FEEEDS Advocacy Initiative and her FE3DS LLC advisory firm. Please join me in welcoming her to the RFG Family! Additionally, I must express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Michael Schneider, who will be retiring from his role as RFG Career Advisor at the end of this month. Dr. Schneider has been an integral part of the RFG team for more than 10 years and has provided incredible support to our fellows and alumni as they navigate their careers in federal service. We wish him the absolute best in his retirement and thank him for all that he has done on behalf of the Foundation.
On a separate, yet important note, recent tragic events in Ukraine have led me to recall the original vision for what would become the Robertson Foundation for Government. The Foundation was created with a mission to help defend and extend freedom throughout the world. Charles and Marie Robertson took seriously the call by President John F. Kennedy to the nation, especially young people, to support our democratic ideals through public service. We were engaged then in an historic struggle between rival values and systems of governance. From the vantage point of the founders of the Robertson Foundation, this struggle demanded the best efforts of our nation.
The reality and global impacts of today’s conflict in Ukraine underscore for us as a Foundation the importance of cultivating public service leaders and a globally engaged federal workforce capable of defending democracy and addressing present and future international security threats. The Foundation remains committed to nurturing these talented, dedicated federal public servants to build good governance, foster international stability and cooperation, and secure freedom in our nation and across the globe.
To all of our fellows and alumni, thank you for your continued efforts in public service and for making our family’s mission a reality. We are proud to have RFG alumni and fellows currently serving on Ukraine Task Forces across government. Your efforts in support of global security and the protection of the Ukrainian people are the embodiment of what my grandparents envisioned over 50 years ago.
Sincerely,
Geoff Robertson