In a conversation moderated by Diane Brown, protocol experts Phillipa Lawrence and Jennifer Beckett will discuss select protocol fundamentals and provide insights to answer your industry questions. Participants may submit questions in advance while registering to be sure they are addressed.
Jennifer Beckett currently serves as the Director of Protocol, Office of the Secretariat, Department of the Air Force. Ms. Beckett is responsible for developing and executing all policies associated with customs, courtesies, and etiquette for both the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Space Force. She serves as the Senior Official for the coordination, management, and execution of all official events for the Department of the Air Force Headquarters and advises senior Air Force and Space Force principals on all matters of protocol and diplomacy.
Ms. Beckett is a New Jersey native and began her career with the Department of Defense in 2004 as a Protocol Specialist contractor for the Missile Defense Agency. In 2010, she entered government service as the Chief Protocol Officer for the Missile Defense Agency and served in that capacity until 2018 when she transferred to the Pentagon to serve as a Senior Protocol Officer within the Office of the Secretary of Defense providing direct support to the Secretary of Defense and Deputy Secretary of Defense. In August 2020, she became the first Director of Protocol for the U.S. Space Force, the Department’s newest military service.
Phillipa Lawrence
For the past 25 years, Ms. Phillipa Lawrence, an international affairs professional, has served as a protocol expert, career diplomat and international civil servant with the United Nations, the Caribbean Community Regional Secretariat (CARICOM) and the Jamaican Foreign Service.
Ms. Lawrence is the former Chief of Protocol at the United Nations Office at Vienna where she coordinated visits of Royalty, Heads of State and Government, and liaised with Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Permanent Missions to the UN Office at Vienna. She also arranged diplomatic and protocol ceremonies and was a key interlocutor for protocol arrangements for High Level Meetings, Congresses and Conferences.
She worked previously at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Jamaica where she served as First Secretary at the Embassy of Jamaica to the USA, Alternate Permanent Representative of Jamaica to the Organisation of American States) and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Jamaica to Mexico and Central America. Following this, she went to work at the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat in Guyana and served as Deputy Programme Manager for Foreign Policy and Community Relations and then Research and Protocol Officer to the CARICOM Secretary-General.
Ms. Lawrence has lectured on protocol and diplomatic etiquette in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Caribbean as well as at the United Nations in Vienna. She currently provides on-line and face to face training in Protocol as a UN Protocol Expert with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), as well as an Expert in Institutional Protocol and VIP Management at the International School for Protocol and Diplomacy (ISPD) and sits on the Advisory Board of the International Centre for Protocol and Diplomacy (ICPD)
She has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Spanish and pursued her diplomatic training in Australia through a Fellowship awarded by the Government of Australia.
Moderator:
Diane Brown
Diane Brown is an internationally recognized pioneer in the protocol training arena. As a champion for continuing education of the protocol professional, she is often referred to as an “Edutainer”. She presents protocol educational programs for Fortune 500 companies, military professionals, government executive and academia. She has supported international training programs in Bahrain, Germany, Kurdistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Suriname, Trinidad, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.
Diane served as the Deputy Director of Protocol for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Pentagon, Washington D.C. before she retired in 2004 from the United States Air Force after serving 24 years.
Notable events she was privileged to be involved with included the nationally televised Memorial Service honoring the Pentagon victims of the September 11th, terrorist attack, the Pentagon Observance Ceremony and the Armed Forces Funeral at Arlington National Cemetery one year after the attack and the State Funerals of President Reagan and President Ford. She served as the Director of Staff for the Air Force’s Chief of Staff Global Air Chief’s Conference hosting senior delegations from around the world and later led the Department of Defense’s Memorial planning team in the historical dedication of the Pentagon Memorial.
She was a key advisor and developer of the accredited Air Force Protocol Course and is a founding board member of Protocol and Diplomacy International - Protocol Officers Association (PDI-POA).
A native of Punxsutawney Pennsylvania, she graduated from Wayland Baptist University with a bachelor’s degree in Human Services and is a graduate of the George Washington University’s Event Management certificate program. A multiple award winner, Ms Brown received the PDI-POA Spirit of Diplomacy Award and the International Protocol Leadership Excellence Award by The Protocol School of Washington. Throughout her military career, she was recognized for leadership acumen, earning the Commandant’s Award, the John Levitow Honor Graduate and the Dick Scobey Leadership awards.
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