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.
Mohamed Bouabdallah, 45, is a seasoned diplomat who has held significant leadership roles advocating for French culture on the global stage. Prior to his appointment as Cultural Counselor of France and Director of Villa Albertine, he served as Cultural Counselor of France in Cairo and Director of the French Institute in Egypt (2016-2019), and Head of the Political Affairs Department at the United Nations Directorate of the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, in charge of the Security Council (2019-2023).
An alumnus of Paris Dauphine University, Sciences Po Paris, and the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA), Mohamed Bouabdallah has worked in several European institutions, including the Delegation of the European Union in Belgrade and the European Parliament. He further served as political advisor to the president of Essonne, a regional authority in the Paris region, and as an adjunct professor at Sciences Po Paris and ENA. In his free time, Mohamed Bouabdallah has been active in social work, contemporary art, and theater. A basketball fanatic, he also practices distance running and desert hiking.
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.