Personal Stories from former Top Diplomats
14 March 2025, Copenhagen
Start your Friday with coffee and croissants and get inspired by the stories of two former top diplomats from their exciting careers in the Foreign Service. In 2022, UN Secretary-General António Guterres wrote that “The crises of recent years have underscored that women's leadership is more crucial than ever.” In 2023, the global proportion of female ambassadors was 23%. Denmark appointed its first female ambassador, Bodil Begtrup, in 1949. She was one of the architects behind the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. While diplomacy was traditionally a male-dominated field in the early years of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, by 2020, women made up 55% of the ministry’s staff and 33% of its leadership positions.
What does it mean to be a woman in a field historically dominated by men? How have the world—and diplomacy—changed over the past decades? What new diplomatic challenges does the evolving global order bring?
To explore these questions, in the context of International Women’s Day, we have invited two former ambassadors, Lone Dencker Wisborg and Mette Thygesen, for a conversation about their remarkable careers and a discussion on their perspectives on the future of diplomacy.
Lone Dencker Wisborg has had a long career as a diplomat and currently advises companies on geopolitical challenges. Most recently, she served as Denmark’s ambassador to NATO and was previously ambassador to the United States during the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Additionally, she has been Director of Resources and Organizational Development at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served as ambassador to Spain, based in Madrid.
Mette Thygesen is the International Director at the Danish Institute for Human Rights. As a former diplomat, her most recent role was Head of Humanitarian Efforts, Civil Society, and Engagement at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She has served as Special Envoy to the Sahel, ambassador to Ethiopia, and was involved in the 2021 evacuation from Afghanistan. She has also worked on democracy and human rights and is one of the driving forces behind Denmark’s Tech for Democracy initiative.
