Leadership

Laurent Bili is the new Ambassador of France to the United States and Chairman of Villa Albertine.

 

A graduate of the French National School of Public Administration (ENA) (Victor Hugo Year, 1989-91), Laurent Bili joined the French Foreign Ministry’s Strategic Affairs and Disarmament Directorate (1991-93).

 

Seconded to the Defense Ministry as Deputy Diplomatic Adviser (1993-95), he then held several positions at the Quai d’Orsay: First Secretary and then Second Counsellor at the Embassy of France in Ankara (1995-99); First Secretary, Permanent Representative of France to the Western European Union (WEU) (1998-2000); Adviser to the European Union’s interim Political and Security Committee (PSC) in Brussels (2000-02); Head of Strategic Affairs (2002).

 

In 2002, he was Director of the Private Office of the Minister Delegate for European Affairs and became technical adviser at the Diplomatic Unit of the Presidency of the French Republic (2002-07).

 

He successively held the positions of Ambassador to Thailand (2007-09), Director of the Defense Minister’s Civilian and Military Office (2009-10), Ambassador to Turkey (2011-15) and then to Brazil (2015-17).

 

Laurent Bili was then Director-General for Global Affairs, Culture, Education and International Development at the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and G7/G20 Sous-Sherpa (2017-2019).

 

Prior to his appointment in Washington, Laurent Bili was Ambassador to China since September 2019.

Since September 2021, Gaëtan Bruel has served as Villa Albertine's first director. 

 

A former student of the ENS specializing in history, he has been Cultural Counselor of the French Embassy and Permanent Representative of French Universities in the United States since September 2019. In January 2020, the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs conferred upon him the mission of creating and opening Villa Albertine, the fourth French Villa abroad in the United States following the Villa Médicis in Italy, Casa Velazquez in Spain, and Villa Kujoyama in Japan. 

 

Having begun his career as a teaching fellow at Columbia University, he worked in three different ministries—Defense, Culture, and Foreign Affairs—first as a speechwriter, then specializing in cultural affairs. He created the cinema program at the Ministry of the Armed Forces, and worked as an administrator on the Arc de Triomphe and the Panthéon during his time at the Centre des monuments nationaux. Before taking on his current role in New York, he was an advisor to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, in charge of the Americas and cultural diplomacy.  

Judith Roze joined the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in September 2021 as Deputy Cultural Counselor and Deputy Director of Villa Albertine.

 

A graduate of the École normale supérieure, Judith holds an MA in Classics from the Sorbonne. After studying and working in the UK for 3 years, she worked in Paris as a journalist and literary translator, publishing various works of fiction by American, Canadian, and British writers in French translation.

 

In 2010, she joined the Institut français, the French cultural relations agency, as Deputy Director and then Director of its French Language, Books and Ideas Department. In this position, she worked closely with the French cultural network around the world to foster intercultural exchange through intellectual debate, French-teaching activities, translation programs, and worldwide events like the Night of Ideas.

 

She now assists the Director in the management of Villa Albertine.