The Envoys
A global recognition of unordained diplomats shaping the future through practice, not position.
Diplomacy has never been the exclusive province of embassies and official titles. It has always lived in the people willing to broker difficult conversations, build trust across difference, and commit to solutions that outlast any single administration or agenda. The Envoys — Diplomatic Courier’s new awards initiative — recognize exactly that kind of leadership.
Launched in April 2026 at Diplomatic Courier’s “Spring Soirée: Diplomacy in Bloom” and celebrated biannually on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings and the UN General Assembly Meetings, The Envoys celebrate extraordinary individuals who have each, in their own domain, practiced diplomacy as a discipline rather than a credential.
The second biannual celebration of The Envoys will come in September 2026 during Diplomatic Courier’s UNGA 81 Dialogues at the Diplomatic Soirée: 20 Years Forward. Former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou will be inducted into the 2026 cohort of The Envoys for his work on democratic resilience and backsliding at the annual international forum Symi Symposium. Mr. Papandreou’s award will be presented by inaugural Envoy Award honoree Dante Disparte.
The 2026 recipients of The Envoys work in finance, health, policy, business, public service, and government. What they share is a rare capacity to operate across sectors, geographies, and divides; to function, in the fullest sense, as envoys of a more connected world.
Diplomacy — as it has always — belongs to those willing to do the work.
Learn more about The Envoys’ origins from our founder, Ana C. Rold.
Our Mission
The Envoy Awards recognize leaders who advance global cooperation through their work across sectors, whether public, private, civil, or academia. They embody the ethos of ciplomacy while never holding the title of diplomat. The awards make visible what is often invisible: the people who quietly build the connective infrastructure of trust across disciplines and industries.
Our theory is that diplomacy should no longer be seen as a pofession, but as a practice.
Platform for the Future
The Envoys are part of Diplomatic Courier’s broader vision to expand access to diplomacy through our Global Embassy concept, an inclusive platform designed to bring together leaders, innovators, and communities to shape the future collaboratively.
The 2026 cohort of Envoy Awards recipients work in finance, health, policy, business, and public service.
The autumn cohort of recipients could be anywhere, working in any sector.
Whatever else they do, what these exceptional people all share in common is a rare capacity to operate across sectors, geographies, and divides; to function, in the fullest sense, as envoys of a more connected world.
The Envoys 2026 Inaugural Recipients
Dante Disparte
THE ARCHITECT
Global Financial Inclusion
About Dante
Honored on the sidelines of the 2026 IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings for shaping the future of global finance through innovation, regulatory dialogue, and expanding financial inclusion internationally.
Dante Disparte has spent his career at the frontier of global financial systems, not just describing where they are failing, but building the case, and often the architecture, for something better. As a leading voice on digital assets, financial innovation, and regulatory engagement, he has shaped conversations across governments, industries, and civil society about how finance can be redesigned to reach more people, in more places, more equitably. His work asks a question that is both economic and moral: what does it take to make financial participation a genuine possibility for everyone? He is honored as an inaugural Envoy for his enduring commitment to that project.
Daniella Foster
THE CATALYST
Global Health Parity
About Daniella
Recognized on the sidelines of the 2026 IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings for advancing global health parity through cross-sector partnerships bridging philanthropy, policy, financing, and implementation.
Daniella Foster works in the space where ambition and outcome are most likely to diverge — the gap between global health policy and ground-level delivery — and she has spent her career engineering ways to close it. By forging cross-sector partnerships that align governments, philanthropies, funders, and implementers into coherent, accountable strategy, she has helped translate international health commitments into measurable results on the ground. She is honored as an inaugural Envoy for her sustained work to advance global health parity through partnerships designed not just to convene, but to deliver.
Greg Lebedev
THE STEWARD
Business and Inclusive Growth
About Greg
Honored on the sidelines of the 2026 IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings for redefining the role of business in society, aligning corporate strategy with inclusive economic growth and global impact.
Greg Lebedev has spent decades making the argument — through strategy, practice, and example — that business and society are not competing interests but interdependent ones. His work is grounded in the conviction that inclusive economic growth is not a trade-off against corporate performance but a condition of it, and that the most durable companies are those with a clear sense of their stake in the broader world. He is honored as an inaugural Envoy for his career-long effort to redefine what it looks like when corporate strategy and global responsibility are not in tension but in alignment.
Lisa Gable
THE INTERLOCUTOR
Policy and Public-Private Partnerships
About Lisa
Honored on the sidelines of the 2026 IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings for shaping the future of global finance through innovation, regulatory dialogue, and expanding financial inclusion internationally.
Dante Disparte has spent his career at the frontier of global financial systems, not just describing where they are failing, but building the case, and often the architecture, for something better. As a leading voice on digital assets, financial innovation, and regulatory engagement, he has shaped conversations across governments, industries, and civil society about how finance can be redesigned to reach more people, in more places, more equitably. His work asks a question that is both economic and moral: what does it take to make financial participation a genuine possibility for everyone? He is honored as an inaugural Envoy for his enduring commitment to that project.
Anita McBride
THE STATESWOMAN
Public Service and International Engagement
About Anita
Recognized on the sidelines of the 2026 IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings for a distinguished career in public service and her enduring contributions to international engagement and leadership development.
Few careers in American public service have spanned as much history, or shaped as many institutions, as Anita McBride’s. From the White House to the lecture hall, she has spent decades advancing international engagement and cultivating the next generation of leaders prepared to carry that work forward. Her career is a record of service that takes diplomacy seriously as a discipline — not a credential — and of the sustained effort required to build institutions worth inheriting. She is honored as an inaugural Envoy for her distinguished contributions to public service, international engagement, and leadership development.
George Papandreou
THE BRIDGE-BUILDER
Cross-Culture and Cross-Sector Engagement
About George
Honored on the sidelines of the 2026 UN General Assembly Meetings for bridge-building diplomacy that has advanced democratic governance within and across borders.
George Papandreou built his career at the intersection of cultures, fundamentally reshaping the politics of a country whose relationships with its neighbors, the world, and itself. As Greece’s Foreign Minister, he engineered a genuine rapprochement between Greece and Turkey, demonstrating the most durable foreign policy is built on trust rather than leverage.
As the founder of Symi Symposium, Mr. Papandreou’s work has sought to address democratic backsliding and pilot deliberative and direct democratic methods of civic engagement. His career demonstrates the power of connecting across preconceived lanes, making him a truly fitting inductee into this cohort of The Envoys honorees.
Programming Partners
More About the Dialogues Series
