Denmark, Greenland, and the United States–Partners in a Changing World
May 16th, 2025 9:00AM -10:30AM
Join the World Affairs Council for a timely virtual discussion on the enduring and evolving relationship between the United States, Denmark, and Greenland. We will be joined by Danish Ambassador to the United States Jesper Møller Sørensen; former U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark Alan Leventhal; and Jacob Isbosethsen, the incoming Head of Representation for Greenland to the United States and Canada. Jacqueline Miller, president and CEO of the World Affairs Council, will moderate the conversation, which will explore the deep historical ties, shared democratic values, and critical economic, security, and cultural partnerships that define this transatlantic alliance.
This program is generously supported by the Scan Design Foundation.
About Our Speakers
Ambassador Jesper Møller Sørensen is the Ambassador of Denmark to The United States at the Royal Danish Embassy in Washington D.C. Most recently, he held a position as the State Secretary for Foreign Policy in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (2019-2023). Prior to this, he was the Political Director in the Foreign Ministry (2015-2019). Ambassador Møller Sørensen has also previously been the Ambassador of Denmark to Pakistan (2013-2015) and the Deputy Ambassador to Afghanistan (2010-2011).
Ambassador Møller Sørensen began his career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Denmark in 1997. He served abroad at the Royal Danish Embassy in Ankara, Turkey (2000-2003) and he was Minister Counsellor for political affairs at the Royal Danish Embassy in Washington D.C. (2005-2009). Earlier in his career, he also worked in the department for European Enlargement (1997-1998), the department for Africa (1998-2000), and the department for Security Policy (2003-2005). He also served as the Head of Department of the Analysis Unit (2011-2013).
The Ambassador holds a Master's of Political Science from the University of Copenhagen and a Bachelor's degree from Aarhus University. He is a First Class Knight of the Order of Dannebrog.
Alan Leventhal was credentialed as the United States Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II on July 1, 2022 until January 2025.
Prior to appointment as Ambassador, Leventhal was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Beacon Capital Partners. He previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Beacon Properties Corporation, a publicly traded real estate investment company that was merged with Equity Office Properties in 1997.
Leventhal is the former Chair of the Board of the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation where he also served on the Executive Committee. He was an Executive Committee and life member of MIT and Trustee Emeritus of Boston University where he had served as Chair from 2004 to 2008.
Leventhal was a life trustee of Northwestern University and also served on the boards of the Friends of Post Office Square and the Norman B. Leventhal Map and Education Center at the Boston Public Library.
Leventhal received his Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Northwestern University and a Master of Business Administration from Dartmouth College.
Jacob Isbosethsen is the incoming Head of Representation to the United States and Canada. He is a seasoned diplomat with over 15 years’ experience from Greenland’s foreign service. He comes to D.C. from his last posting in Beijing as the Head of Representation at the Greenland Representation in China, with official side-accreditation to Japan, Korea, and Singapore (2021 – 2025). Prior to that, he served as Head of Representation in Iceland (2018–2021), Acting Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs in Nuuk (2017), and Head of Department at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (2015–2017). He also served as Legal Advisor in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (2013–2015), Secretary to the Greenland Representation to the EU in Brussels (2011–2013), and as Head of Section at the Ministry for Fisheries, Hunting and Agriculture (2008–2011).
Born and raised in Nuuk, Greenland, Mr. Isbosethsen holds a Master of Laws (Cand.jur., LLM) from Aarhus University, completed in 2008. He has also undertaken advanced training in national and international security and defense at the Royal Danish Defense Academy and has completed specialized courses on UNCLOS and Continental Shelf procedures. Mr. Isbosethsen has spent his entire career serving the Government of Greenland (Naalakkersuisut).
About Our Moderator
Jacqueline Miller has led the World Affairs Council of Seattle since May 2014. She held senior positions in policy organizations and non-profits on the east coast before moving to the Pacific Northwest. In Seattle, she also serves on the Mayor’s International Affairs Advisory Board; is a member of the Civic Council for UW’s Master of Arts in Applied International Studies (MAAIS) program; and serves on the Washington State Advisory Committee for the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition. She is a board member of the World Affairs Councils of America; past chair of the board of Global Ties U.S, and a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Prior to joining the World Affairs Council, Jacqueline served as Director of External Relations at Independent Diplomat in New York, working with marginalized democratic political actors to help them navigate the United Nations, the EU, and other international diplomatic fora. Previously, she was a Senior Associate at the EastWest Institute (EWI) in New York, where she created and led the U.S. program. At EWI, she focused on national security policy, the U.S.-Russia and U.S.-China relationships, as well as nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation issues. She was deputy director of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Washington (DC) programs, where she oversaw CFR’s robust DC meetings program as well as outreach on Capitol Hill and the DC diplomatic community. She got her start in think tanks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where she was deputy director of the Russia and Eurasia program. She has also taught at The George Washington University, where she undertook graduate work after earning undergraduate and graduate degrees from Cornell University.
She has been a commentator for various news sources (print, web, and broadcast), including the New York Times, the BBC, CBC, and Voice of America. Her honors include being named a Truman Security Fellow as well as receiving a Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS) for Russia. She was also an International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) Visiting Scholar in Kyrgyzstan.
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