Cynthia P. Schneider

Cynthia P. Schneider is an American diplomat, scholar, and cultural strategist whose career spans art history, international relations, and public diplomacy. Schneider studied fine arts at Harvard University, earning both her bachelor's degree and doctorate, and began her professional career as an assistant curator of European paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. She later joined Georgetown University as associate professor of art history. During her academic tenure, Schneider published several books and numerous articles on Rembrandt and Dutch art of the seventeenth century, including "Rembrandt's Landscapes." In addition to her academic work, she was appointed vice-chair of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

Schneider served as the 61st ambassador of the United States to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Her portfolio included public and cultural diplomacy, biotechnology, cybersecurity, military affairs, education, international justice, and environmental initiatives. She was the first American invited to deliver the keynote address at the annual Dutch commemoration of liberation from the Nazis and the first non-Dutch speaker to present the annual William of Orange lecture. Schneider hosted the U.S. delegation to the COP-6 Climate Change Conference in The Hague, managed U.S. cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and served as the top U.S. official in the Netherlands during the Lockerbie trial. Following her ambassadorship, she received the Exceptional Public Service Award from the U.S. Department of Defense in recognition of her support for the U.S. military.

After returning from her diplomatic post, Schneider became a distinguished professor in the practice of diplomacy at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, where she has taught courses, published research, and delivered public lectures on cultural diplomacy. She also became a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, coordinating the Arts and Culture Initiative and helping to launch the Timbuktu Renaissance, a Mali-based platform focused on countering extremism and promoting peace and development through culture. Schneider is co-founder and co-director of Muslims on Screen and Television (MOST), an initiative providing Hollywood screenwriters with accurate information about Muslims and the Muslim world.

Schneider also co-founded the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, a joint initiative between Georgetown's School of Foreign Service and College of Arts and Sciences, with the mission of humanizing global politics through performance. She teaches, publishes, and speaks about the role of culture in diplomacy and international affairs, applying these concepts in diverse settings from conflict zones to Hollywood writers' rooms. Her writings include articles for Los Angeles Times, CNN.com, TIME, and Foreign Policy, as well as policy papers for Brookings Institution. Schneider has spoken at TED, TEDx, universities, conferences, and festivals worldwide. Her book in progress, "Why Culture Matters: Re-Imagining Diplomacy," is set to be published by Georgetown University Press.