PARTNER EVENT WITH THE GERMAN FRIENDLY SOCIETY.

advance registration is required, AND YOU MUST BE A CURRENT WACC MEMBER TO ATTEND.

11:30 - 12:30 Social Hour | 12:30 - 1:30 Seated Luncheon

SOLD OUT! Email [email protected] to be placed on waitlist. 

Meet George Kent and hear him discuss the importance of Ukraine, Germany - and Europe more generally - to the national security interests of the United States. 

A 1985 graduate of Porter Gaud who spent 10 years of his childhood in Charleston, George Kent served as U.S. Ambassador to Estonia from 2023-25, capping a 33-year career as a U.S. diplomat. He served overseas at embassies in Tashkent, Uzbekistan; Warsaw, Poland; Bangkok, Thailand (twice); Kyiv, Ukraine (twice); and Tallinn, Estonia. 

Kent also had a number of assignments at the U.S. Department of State, including as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, with policy responsibilities for Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan from 2018-2021. In this role, he was subpoenaed in 2019 to testify in the first impeachment proceeding against President Trump.   

After retiring from the U.S. Foreign Service in 2025, Kent cycled the 4,400 mile TransAmerica Bike Trail, raising money for Ukrainian front-line units and awareness of Ukraine’s importance for U.S. foreign policy interests. In 2026 he continued the effort by cycling from Munich, Germany, to Lviv, Ukraine, and most recently, Canada to Key West. We are fortunate that Charleston is a stop along his journey. 

Kent speaks Ukrainian, Russian, Thai, and some Polish, German, and Italian. He has degrees from Harvard (AB, 1989), Johns Hopkins SAIS (MA, 1992), and the National Defense University’s Eisenhower School (MSc, 2012). As a Rotary Scholar, he also spent a year at the University of Edinburgh (1989-1990). His hobbies include beekeeping, choral singing, cycling, gardening, and home brewing.