A

t the Academy Awards, a lifetime achievement award is given to an actor who is not long for this world.  Needless to say, I was a bit concerned when I received a lifetime achievement award in early December from the U.S. Department of State.

Acting Director General -- that’s what State calls its top HR guy -- Steve Browning was generous in his remarks.  I invite you to read his speech so you can see for yourself that I am not making this up.  He noted some of the things I have been lucky enough to work on:

-- The 2009 Summit of the Americas (“one of the most successful”),

-- Ambassador to Venezuela (“professionalism, enthusiasm, and dignity”) and 

-- The U.S.-Peru free trade agreement (he was kind enough to omit that we were unable to get the Colombia and Panama agreements passed in 2007).

One of the things he mentioned that I was most proud of was my role as mentor. (“On the final day of the Summit, he called a junior officer’s mother and started the conversation with ‘Ma’am this is Ambassador Shapiro, and I want to let you know what your daughter did for the President of the United States here in Trinidad this week.’”)

Here is a large excerpt of what Ambassador Browning said about financial inclusion -- a theme I would like to build a program around at the Institute.

“Many of his colleagues say that Ambassador Shapiro is a visionary.  Two years ago, he began to enthusiastically promote ‘Secured Transaction Reform’ - a concept that few understood at the time.  The idea behind Secured Transaction Reform is to establish systems that facilitate better access to credit, which allows more people to acquire assets, expand their businesses, and create jobs.  This in turn enables them to educate their children strengthen their families, and improve the quality of their lives.  . . . . Through his work, Ambassador Shapiro shifted the Bureau’s (and the Department’s) understanding of the economic power of the poor.  By the time he left, many in the Department referred to him as our Ambassador at Large for Financial Inclusion.”

Financial inclusion is an issue to which I am deeply committed.  Despite the “lifetime achievement award,” I plan to get some work done in the time I have remaining.  I hope you and your businesses will help me build a strong financial inclusion program at the Institute, one that will bring about real change in the lives of the working poor in Latin America.

And while I am pitching you, please help our work at the Institute by becoming a member and by giving gift memberships to your loved ones for the holidays.  Between now and Three Kings Day, we’ll donate $25 to Casa Familiar, a San Diego non-profit assisting low income families, for every new membership.