Pathways to Careers in Diplomacy: A Conversation with Brian Sells, Foreign Service Officer, former Peace Corps and Fulbright participant.

October 1st, 2021

2:00 PM - 3:00 PM 

Room 160, Enarson Hall

A native of Columbus and a graduate of Columbus Alternative High School, Brian was a Fulbright Scholar in Georgia and briefly a Peace Corps volunteer in Uzbekistan before the temporary shuttering of the Central Asian programs after 9/11. He received a BA in Economics and Public Policy (2000) and a Master of Public Policy (2001), both from the University of Chicago. He received a JD from the University of Iowa in 2006 but notes that he spent the third year of law school at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.

Brian has worked as a foreign service officer for the Department of State in a variety of consular positions, including as consular chief at U.S. embassies in Lomé (Togo) and Djibouti, as the citizen services chief at the embassy in Kabul, and as the acting chief for non-immigrant visas in Lagos, Nigeria.  He is currently the Department's action officer on aviation safety concerns and serves as the Department's liaison to the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board. He also serves as a policy adviser to the U.S. mission to the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations technical organization located in Montreal that sets standards for civil aviation and passports.  He has assisted with a variety of high-profile aviation issues, including vaccination verification for purposes of international travel, the January 2021 crash of Indonesia's Sriwijaya flight 182, Iran's January 2020 shootdown of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752, Belarus' May 2021 diversion of Ryanair flight 4978, and the return to service abroad of the 737 MAX. He also assists with other civil aviation issues in conflict zones, including Iraq, Afghanistan, and Ukraine, and with managing emerging risks from remotely piloted aircraft and automated aircraft systems.

Brian's spouse, Frida, is a foreign service financial management officer who has also served in Djibouti and Lomé. They have a well-traveled Nigerian cat, Abiola.