Dhaka, Feb 4 (UNB) - US Under-Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy
and Public Affairs Judith A. McHale arrives here Saturday on a
three-day visit seen as significant in bolstering the bilateral ties
and cooperation between Dhaka and Washington.
Ms. McHale is the highest-ranking Obama administration’s official to
visit Bangladesh after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina assumed office in
January last year, the American Center announced Thursday.

During her visit, she will meet with Bangladesh government officials,
academics, and business-and civil-society leaders.

Ms McHale’s portfolio includes all State Department-funded
educational and cultural exchange programs, including the Fulbright
program.
Prior to joining the State Department, McHale was the former
President and Chief Executive Officer of Discovery Communications.
While at Discovery, she launched innovative education and development
initiatives in the United States and around the world, including the
Discovery Channel Global Education Partnership, which provides free
educational programming and technological support to more than half a
million students at 200 schools and community centers throughout
rural Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe.

Appointed by President Obama, she was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on
May 21, 2009 and sworn in on May 26.

Daughter of a U.S. Foreign Service Officer, McHale was born in New
York City and grew up in Britain and apartheid-era South Africa. Her
upbringing inspired a lifelong commitment to social justice and
engagement with development issues, especially in Africa.

“During these formative years, Ms McHale’s family home was constantly
under police surveillance and was wire-tapped; family friends were
detained and mistreated; and she became close with key anti-apartheid
activists, including Felicia Kentridge, who founded South Africa’s
Legal Resource Centre, and her husband Sidney Kentridge, the noted
civil rights lawyer who went on to represent slain anti-apartheid
activist Steven Biko,” the American Center said in a release.

She graduated from the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom
and Fordham University School of Law in New York.
In the 1980s, she served as General Counsel for MTV Networks,
overseeing legal affairs for MTV, Nickelodeon and VH-1. “Drawing on
the experience developed over many years living abroad, Ms. McHale
became a principal architect of the company’s rapid international
expansion,” the release said.
In 1987, McHale became General Counsel at Discovery Communications,
then a small company with a single U.S. cable channel. She went on to
serve as Chief Operating Officer, Chief Executive Officer, and
President, helping to grow Discovery into one of the most successful
media companies in the world.
”Ms. McHale and others at Discovery understood something important
about communicating with people around the world: It makes more sense
to engage people internationally on their own terms, in ways that
respect their languages and customs, than it does just to bring them
warmed-over versions of American programming.”
In 1998, she was appointed by Governor Parris Glendening to a
four-year term as a member of the Maryland State Board of Education.
McHale has also provided leadership to a range of organizations
engaged in global affairs and development. She served on the boards
of the Africa Society of the National Summit on Africa, Africare, the
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the National Democratic Institute,
and Vital Voices. In 2008, she was the co-chair of the Platform
Committee of the Democratic National Convention.