United States Agency for Global Media

Washington, D.C. — Dr. Shawn Powers, Ph.D., former Executive Director of the United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy (ACPD), joined the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) as Senior Advisor on July 23, 2018. Reporting to the BBG Chief Strategy Officer, Powers is focusing on strategic planning, innovation, research and evaluation, and policy coordination for the BBG, as well as positioning the agency within the broader U.S. government and with key stakeholders.

“Shawn brings a depth of knowledge and experience that has proven invaluable in the public diplomacy arena, and his understanding of the importance of U.S. international media is an indispensable part of our standing on the world stage,” said Haroon Ullah, BBG Chief Strategy Officer. “My team and I look forward to working with him and benefiting from his expertise.”

Powers most recently served as the Executive Director of the ACPD, a body authorized by Congress to oversee and appraise U.S. Government activities that intend to understand, inform, and influence foreign publics. He led the Commission’s efforts to understand and utilize artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities in the strategic communication space and helped forge a research and learning agenda and culture among public diplomacy practitioners. Previously Powers worked on the Commission’s 2014 report, “Data Driven Public Diplomacy,” when he led a team in assessing the BBG’s research and evaluation work.

Powers is an award-winning author who brings more than a decade of experience working at the intersection of research, public diplomacy, development, technology, national security, and academia. He has a Ph.D. from the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. He is currently an Associate Professor on leave from Georgia State University, where he launched its Center for Global Information Studies, and has held fellowships at the London School of Economics, Oxford University, University of Pennsylvania, and Central European University.