Faith Ryan Whittlesey

Faith Ryan Whittlesey (‘56)—Faith Ryan Whittlesey is the former United States Ambassador to Switzerland, serving two tours of duty, from 1981-1983 and again from 1985-1988. Between tours, she was a member of the Senior White House Staff directing the White House Office of Public Liaison.

Prior to her service at the federal level, Ambassador Whittlesey was the Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and served as Special Assistant Attorney General in the Pennsylvania Department of Justice. She also was elected to the Pennsylvania State Legislature for two terms and later served two terms on the Delaware County Council, the governing body of a large suburban county near Philadelphia, where she held leadership positions as Council Vice Chairman and Chairman.

Mrs. Whittlesey has served as chairman, president and chief executive officer of the American Swiss Foundation in New York and chairman of the Overseers of the Institute of World Politics, a graduate school of statecraft and diplomacy in Washington, D.C.. She is a member of the advisory council of the James Madison Program in American Ideas and Institutions at Princeton University and serves on several corporate boards as well as numerous charitable and public policy organization boards.

Mrs. Whittlesey is a Phi Beta Kappa and cum laude graduate of Wells College and holds a doctor of law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. She has received three honorary doctorates and attended the Hague Academy of International Law in the Netherlands.