Ava Smith

Ava R. Smith directs the Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Programs for Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, and Romania, among the U.S. government’s foremost public diplomacy tools in Europe and Eurasia. Since 1990, she has designed projects – series of meetings that provide a comprehensive U.S. perspective on an issue and opportunities to engage relevant players and stakeholders across the United States - for high-level policymakers and decision-makers in these countries. Issues have included business and economic development, trade, politics, social policy, energy policy, and civil society among others.

Ava is an Excellence in Government Fellow. She joined the Department in 1988 as a Presidential Management Intern, during which time she worked in the Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program; the Office of Management and Budget; and the office of Senator Lloyd Bentsen. Following study in Russia and Poland, Ava earned a Master of Public Policy from the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Policy, University of Texas at Austin, and a Bachelors in Modern Languages from the University of Texas at El Paso.