A virtual discussion with Ricklef Beutin, Deputy Chief of Mission at the German Embassy, and moderated by Dr. Steven E. Sokol, President of the American Council on Germany.
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Transatlantic Renewal? A New Era for German-American Relations
March 11, 2021 @ 9:00 pm - 10:00 pm EST
Ricklef Beutin assumed the position of Deputy Chief of Mission at the German Embassy in Washington, DC, in July 2019.
Prior to this, he was a Visiting Fellow in the Europe Program at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) in Washington. Before coming to the United States in 2018, Mr. Beutin served as Chief of Staff to German Federal Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel. Between 2011 and 2017, he was Chief of Staff to several State Secretaries of the German Federal Foreign Office.
From 2015 to 2016, Mr. Beutin headed the division for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and served as deputy head of the Task Force for the German OSCE Chairmanship in 2016. Previous positions in the German Foreign Office include Head of the Division for Parliamentary and Cabinet Affairs and Deputy Spokesman of the German Permanent Representation to the EU. Between 2005 and 2007, Mr. Beutin was seconded to the EU Commission’s policy planning division Bureau of European Policy Advisors (BEPA) as foreign policy analyst.
Mr. Beutin holds an M.A. in international affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a degree in law from the University of Bonn, Germany.
Steven E. Sokol (moderator) has been the President of the American Council on Germany since May 2015. He served as President and CEO of the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh from July 2010 until April 2015. Prior to that, he was the Vice President and Director of Programs at the American Council on Germany for nearly eight years.
Earlier in his career, Dr. Sokol served as the Deputy Director of the Aspen Institute Berlin, was the Head of the Project Management Department at the Bonn International Center for Conversion GmbH (BICC), and was a Program Officer in the Berlin office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. He holds a Doctorate in Law and Policy from Northeastern University as well as an M.A. in International Relations and International Economics from the Johns Hopkins University’s Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a B.A. from Wesleyan University. He has also studied at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität in Heidelberg and as a Fulbright Scholar at the Freie Universität in Berlin.