What’s It Like to Be a Foreign Service Diplomatic Technology Officer?

This webinar was recorded live on October 24, 2023, and is now available to watch on demand.

The Foreign Affairs Information Technology (FAIT) Fellowship is your path to an exciting and rewarding career in the Foreign Service as a Diplomatic Technology Officer (DTO). At the time of this webinar recording, the position was Information Management Specialist (IMS). The newly announced career path of DTO reflects the evolving role of information technology professionals in the Foreign Service

Learn what you’ll be doing when you successfully complete the FAIT Fellowship and receive your appointment as a DTO.

View this insightful webinar in which DTOs who have served in the Foreign Service all around the world come together to share their experiences and answer questions. This is a great opportunity for you to hear what it’s really like to work in the Foreign Service. Discover how these DTOs launched their careers, what their most memorable experiences have been, what a “typical” day is like in the life of an DTO, and much more.

Our panelists:

Patricia Boerner, program manager for the FAIT Fellowship, U.S. Department of State, was also on the webinar to answer questions about the fellowship.

Our panelists:

Pamela D. Brogden has lived throughout Africa and Europe during her 36 years of service with the U.S. Department of State. After retiring as an IT manager, she continued to travel internationally as a Communications Security Auditor. Pamela now serves as a part-time IT Recruiter with the State Department. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Morgan State University.

Orienta Huger joined the Department in 2013 as an information management professional. She served overseas in Luanda, Angola, Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Windhoek, Namibia. Her current assignment is working as an IT Recruiter to recruit other Foreign Service DTOs. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Carolina and a master’s in business administration from Tennessee State University.

King Phengvath served at the U.S. Department of State since 2012 as an eligible family member and joined the Foreign Service in 2020. He was an Information Management Assistant in Tel Aviv, Israel; Professional Associate in Public Diplomacy in Shenyang, China; Professional Associate in Information Management in Vientiane, Laos; Information Management Assistant in Baghdad, Iraq; and Professional Associate in Information Management in Hanoi, Vietnam. His first tour as an IMS was in Rome, Italy.

Ernesto Pizarro joined the Foreign Service in 1999 and is currently the Information Management Officer at the American Embassy Tegucigalpa, Honduras. His previous tours include Spain, Germany, Haiti, and several U.S. locations, including Florida, Kansas and the District of Columbia. He is a U.S. Army Veteran and worked in the private sector before joining the Foreign Service.