Pamela Hyde Smith held the position of U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Moldova from 2001 to 2003. Until her retirement from the State Department in late 2005, she was a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, having served prior to her Ambassadorship as Minister-Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in London, Press Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Cultural Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade, in a first posting at the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest, and in several Washington positions. She joined the Foreign Service in 1975, working in the U.S. Information Agency until its merger with the Department of State in 1999.

From 2003 through 2007, Amb. Smith taught Masters-level and undergraduate courses on Public Diplomacy at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. From 2007 through 2014, Amb. Smith returned to the State Department for intermittent assignments leading overseas and domestic inspections for the Office of the Inspector General.

Amb. Smith serves on the boards of Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art/Freer-Sackler Galleries, the Maryland/DC chapter of The Nature Conservancy, and The Annie Wright School in Tacoma, WA.