Sept. 10, 2026

#56 - Karl Stoltz

Show Notes

Karl Stoltz continues to bring people together, after nearly four decades as a public diplomacy expert. As Co-President of the Public Diplomacy Council of America, he pays close attention to the many soft power tools the United States uses to win hearts and minds (which used to be a priority). As a diplomat, starting with the U.S. Information Agency, he deployed these tools, not least in Moscow, where his overseas career began and ended.

Karl is Co-President of the Public Diplomacy Council of America (PDCA), a lecturer at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, and Foreign Policy Advisor for Deft9 Solutions LLC.

Karl retired from the U.S. State Department in October 2024 after 38 ½ years as a diplomat, most recently as Senior Advisor and acting Deputy Coordinator in the Global Engagement Center (GEC), which focused on countering foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) from America’s adversaries. As a diplomat, Karl served twice as Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM), in Denmark and Myanmar; and twice in Moscow, as Assistant Information Officer (AIO) working with Russian media from 1990-1992, as the Soviet Union collapsed, and as Minister- Counselor for Public Affairs (CPAO) from 2019-21, when he was expelled by the Putin regime. Karl also served as CPAO in Pretoria, South Africa; and in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; as Cultural Attaché in Jakarta, Indonesia; as PAO in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; and as Assistant. In as an Office Director in the East Asia/Pacific Bureau and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and in New Zealand as AIO in Wellington and Branch PAO in Christchurch, where was also Spokesperson for U.S. Antarctic programs. In Washington D.C., Karl also served as Director of the Office of Citizen Exchanges in ECA and of the Public Diplomacy Office in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs (EAP). He taught as the State Department’s Public Diplomacy Fellow at George Washington University, and also worked as Regional Exchanges/Cultural Coordinator for the EAP region in the U.S. Information Agency (USIA).