Washington, DC
ADMINISTRATOR SAMANTHA POWER: Thank you so much, Marcela [Escobari].
And thanks, even though Ambassador [Ken] Salazar is not online as we speak, I do want to take note on how singular that video intervention was and – you know, there’s video remarks and then there are video remarks. He is an ambassador who fundamentally understands what USAID brings to America’s efforts to strengthen our partnership with Mexico. And you can hear it in the way he talked about the range of programs with not only the depth of knowledge but also the depth of feeling. And I think he really recognizes as well, you know, that Mexico’s own development journey is an inspiration for many in that sphere and around the world. That is why our partnership with AMEXCID is so exciting to actually be doing work in countries together, drawing in from the knowledge the people on the frontlines in Mexico have obtained over many years, with securing such profound and relevant impact.
I have to also ask if people would like to turn on their camera if they haven’t yet, I am sure that Jene and others would love to see your faces and, I think somewhere out there is our outgoing, incredible Mission Director Bruce Adams, who is here virtually. Bruce you have done a tremendous job, this is a time in which we have seen the U.S.-Mexico relationship soar to new heights, I will come back to those heights. It’s not without challenges of course, and those challenges exist in all of the countries we work around the world. But I think your leadership of our team there, your relationship with Mexico’s civil society, journalists, government officials, with AMEXICD as we think again about what we can do together, what we can do outside. You have just done a magnificent job. We are all incredibly grateful to you and for your life of service with USAID. Just thank you, thank you, thank you!
We are really pleased to have Deputy Chief of Mission to Mexico, Ambassador Ana Luisa Fajer. She is with us representing a government that is excited to have Jene and partner with them and the team in ever new and more dynamic ways.
We have alluded to Jene’s family who have joined us here in person, we have Jene’s brother Don and sister-in-law Lisa, who flew in from the family’s native Texas to be here. What I did not realize until I got to talk with Jene is that they are newlyweds. And Jene, taking advantage of his vast knowledge of the Amazon, arranged what sounds like the most spectacular wedding of all time, at the base of Machu Picchu. So I don’t know, it is a high bar, high bar! But we are thrilled that you have found each other and clearly it also brings Jene so much joy to see his big brother so happy. And so it is really wonderful to have you come and show your love here in person. We also have Jene’s mother – and namesake – Jeanne joining virtually; his two brothers, Bill and Reid; his sister-in-law, Delynn; a whole crew of nieces and nephews; and as well as so many members of the found family Jene has built all over the world.
We have with us here in person of course, his husband Marco, and I will come back to them and their partnership, but I just want to echo Marcela’s point that this really is a partnership and a family enterprise, and the sacrifices and service that Jene has carried out during the years definitely wouldn't have been possible or nearly as fun, so thank you so much. For him and for USAID and our partners in the countries we work. I just want to again stress the gratitude to this broad community of people who support Jene.
Leadership, I gather, has always come naturally to Jene. When he was just nine, while I was dreaming of playing centerfield for the Pittsburgh Pirates, he dreamed of becoming the Governor of Texas. By high school, he was class president.
After earning a degree in Geology at the University of Texas at Austin, Jene joined the Peace Corps. In 1989, he moved to Douentza, Mali, to work on wells and other water projects.
His time in Mali taught him that he wanted to learn as much as he could about the world around him. And after the Peace Corps, he traveled for many years, going from the turquoise waters of dominican republic to the cozy beer gardens of Frankfurt, to the wide plazas of Mexico City – where, in 1998, he was hired by USAID at the very mission he’s going on to lead today.
Now, there is a book that is very special to both Jene and Marco – the famous children’s book The Little Prince. And I’m sure many of you know it. And really, it’s no surprise that the two of them connect so deeply with this story – because as the Little Prince travels around the universe, he learns about the importance of planting seeds, and caring for them as they grow. He learns that when you find those with great potential, and invest your time and care and resources into supporting them, they flourish. And that’s what Jene by all accounts has done, in literally every place he’s worked. He’s taken the time to find extraordinary people and organizations, to understand what is it about them tic, what is it that makes them special, what is the specific support they need to grow, and ultimately to thrive.
At the Mexico mission, Jene took on his first big position: Director of the brand-new Democracy and Governance Department. His job? A humble one: To build the whole program, from scratch.
And to understand the true weight of that task, we need to recognize that there are few periods more pivotal in Mexico’s history than the years that Jene worked there, from 1998 to 2006.
In the year 2000, Mexico elected its first president from an opposition party since the revolution of 1911, ending decades of one-party rule.
Now, during these moments of democratic opening, as we’ve seen all over the world, it’s again essential to nurture the seeds of democracy: civil society groups, journalists, an independent judiciary, the checks and the balances – all those groups that give citizens power and voice. And that’s exactly what Jene did. He supported nascent civil society organizations. He worked alongside the Mexican legislature to help build oversight capabilities. He supported judicial reforms to help strengthen the rule of law – always taking the time to work closely with communities and hear from them what they needed. Colleagues recall how Jene spent days sitting at indigenous tribunals in the Yucatan, trying to follow the proceedings in Mayan.
In all his work, Jene operated by putting local changemakers in the lead – even when that wasn’t as big of a focus for USAID. As one colleague from the time put it, “He basically did localization before it was a keyword."
As his work took him everywhere from Afghanistan to Haiti, he continued this approach – investing in local leaders, and providing standout support to particularly marginalized communities. In Colombia in 2011, he met a talented investigative journalist named Jineth Bedoya Lima, who had been kidnapped, tortured, and raped on the orders of paramilitary leaders because of her work. He sent her to Washington to share her story and advocate for change – providing such extraordinary support that Lima stated that “USAID has been my guardian angel.” The next year, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton awarded Lima the International Women of Courage award – and to this day, she continues her investigative work in Colombia. During his time in Colombia, Jene also promoted and signed the first-ever Colombian Mission Order on Gender, bringing gender considerations into all programming – long before it was an Agency-wide requirement.
In 2019, Jene took the helm at USAID’s mission in Peru – going on to lead the Mission through both the COVID-19 pandemic and a very significant political crisis.
Stella, an FSN who Jene worked with in Peru, said that in her forty years with USAID, “Jene is the best Mission Director I have ever had.” We should be careful with superlatives in mixed company, who else is watching? She describes how, when COVID-19 came to Peru, U.S. citizens were offered a chance to go home – and Jene was one of only a handful who stayed. “As an FSN,” she says, “That showed me that he cared. It was amazing. He cried with us when our cousins died. And he wrote letters of condolence to our partners’ families.” That is Jene!
And once again, Jene continued his signature approach – taking the time to learn about the extraordinary changemakers in Peruvian communities and find out the support they needed to make an even greater impact. One local Peruvian leader named Felipe says that Jene was the first person in six years who took time to understand his organization’s work on reforestation. Jene, as he put it, “understood the vision, and how to navigate both Peruvian and USAID regulations.” I need a tutorial on the later portion of that! Alberto, another Peruvian partner, says that it was Jene’s commitment that made it possible to support the vision for a project called The Alliance for the Amazon, which creates legal income-generating opportunities for indigenous communities as an alternative to illicit sectors like narcotrafficking.
Jene’s continuous care and respect for others may well come simply from his natural empathy. I think his mom, brothers and sister can attest to how long that empathy has been on display. But maybe another reason why Jene has become such a powerful advocate for marginalized groups is his own journey.
It’s mind-blowing to think of today – but until 1998, the U.S. government still considered LGBTQI+ people security risks. People could be refused employment or fired simply because of their sexual identity. And the government did not recognize same-sex partners as family.
Jene was a traveling diplomatic partner before his work at USAID began. He could not get hired as a spouse, and was denied jobs in the Dominican Republic and in Frankfurt. His partner at the time lived in fear of being fired. And when Jene needed vaccines in Mexico, the Embassy spousal healthcare policy did not cover him: instead, he had to go to the local market.
In 1992, Jene became one of fewer than a dozen founding members of GLIFAA, the Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies. Together, this group of LGBTQI+ federal employees advocated for their rights – for equal employment opportunities, for health care, for basic dignity and respect. And it’s thanks in part to that extraordinary advocacy that, as we swear in Jene today, his husband Marco can stand proudly at his side –supporting Jene as he takes his next diplomatic step as the Mission Director to Mexico, one of the United States’ most important partners.
The United States and Mexico have nearly two thousand miles of shared border, and deep cultural and familial ties between our peoples. And just months ago, Mexico surged ahead of the PRC to become our nation’s top trading partner. So the economies, health, and basic security of our two countries are and always will be deeply entwined.
We’ll need to invest in adapting our communities, food systems, and disaster response capabilities to our changing climate – as the devastating heat waves of recent weeks have shown.
We’ll need to work together to protect citizens from violence, bolster legal economies to deter the growth of illicit sectors, and build migration pathways that honor the dignity and rights of migrants.
We’ll need to continue building on key partnerships, like USAID’s collaboration with AMEXCID in Central America.
And we’ll need to keep nurturing those essential seeds of democracy – which have shown resilience even as Mexico’s democracy faces, like our own, substantial challenges. Journalists are braving one of the most dangerous environments in the world for the media to report the truth. And civil society remains active, committed to supporting local communities – including some of the organizations that Jene invested in all those years ago that are still in operation today.
At this critical moment for our partnership, USAID’s mission needs someone as empathetic, as curious, as tenacious, and as visionary as Jene.
We are so eager for you to return to Mexico to see the fruits of all you helped plant in your first assignment – and continue to sow the seeds of prosperity, safety, and democracy for the generations to come.