Dr. Helena Kane Finn – the Woman on the Move Diplomat We Celebrate!

In celebrating the International Day of Women in Diplomacy, 24 June, this year, who better to showcase than our very own member, Dr. Helena Kane Finn. She represented BPW International as Lead United Nations Representative at the UN Headquarters in NYC through the end of 2024 and continues as a designated UN Representative ensuring IFBPW’s priorities are heard in various UN fora.

But who is Dr. Finn?

Helena Kane Finn served as Vice President of the American Council on Germany from September 2010 to September 2017. A career diplomat of the United States Department of State, she served as Minister- Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin (2007 - 2010) and as Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv (2003 - 2007). She has been the Cyrus Vance Fellow in Diplomatic Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York (2002 - 2003). Her seminal article on public diplomacy appeared in the November - December 2003 issue of Foreign Affairs. She has also been Director of the Turkish Studies Program at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy (2002).

As Acting Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (2000 - 2001), Dr. Finn was responsible for the State Department's global academic, professional and youth exchanges, including Fulbright and the International Visitor program. She also oversaw the Office of Cultural Heritage and Preservation.

Helena Kane Finn has served overseas as the Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey (1997 - 2000). Prior to that, she was the Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Vienna, Austria (1995 - 1997). She was the Public Affairs Officer and Director of the Amerika Haus in Frankfurt-Main, Germany (1992 - 1995).

She has been the Desk Officer for Greece, Turkey and Cyprus (1989 - 1991), following cultural affairs tours in Lahore and Islamabad, Pakistan (1984 - 1989). Her first diplomatic assignment was to the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey (1981 -1984).

Before joining the Foreign Service in 1980, Dr. Finn was an Assistant Professor in the Literature Department of Bosphorus University (formerly Robert College) in Istanbul, Turkey. She pursued post-doctoral studies at Princeton University in Comparative Literature (1977- 78). She holds a doctoral degree from St. John's University in British and American Literature (1976), having completed her doctoral dissertation in the Firestone Library at Princeton University. Her foreign languages are Turkish, German, and French.

Helena Kane Finn is married to former career diplomat Robert P. Finn, the U.S. Ambassador to Kabul, Afghanistan (2002 - 2003). Ambassador Finn is affiliated with Princeton University.

Nermin K. Ahmad
NFBPWC Women on the Move Committee Chair