The consulate in Calgary opened its doors here in 1906 with a consul and half-time assistant. Today, Emily Fleckner oversees a staff of 120
It was a long drive from Newport, R.I., to Calgary — giving plenty of time to think about this city and what to expect upon her arrival — but Emily Fleckner says Calgary has surpassed all expectations and she is delighted to be here to begin her term as the new consul general for the U.S.
Fleckner was in Newport to attend the U.S. Naval War College, where she graduated in June with a master’s degree in national security.
It was a long and adventurous drive, but it allowed her and her husband and two daughters to stop and visit family in Wisconsin where she grew up.
Calgary is considered a plum posting for American diplomats, and Fleckner says it’s nice to settle down here for three years so that her children can be educated in the western world. A firm believer in public education, her six- and seven-year-olds are already settled in school and making good friends.
They have travelled a lot in their young lives; mother says they became fluent in Vietnamese and were brought up on the local food while she was serving a four-year term in Ho Chi Minh City. As economic section chief, she led efforts to level the playing field for American businesses in southern Vietnam. Fleckner was also conversant in the language, as she had to study Vietnamese for a year before beginning her posting there. Amid interesting work in a country that was changing rapidly with a rising middle class, she also worked to strengthen post-conflict reconciliation, economic development and human rights in Sri Lanka and Maldives.
Her first tours after joining the foreign service — mainly involved in consular issues — were in Dubai and Mexico City. After six years in Washington, D.C., learning the ways of staff understanding of political affairs, Fleckner was off to Brunei Darussalam in 2020, the oil-rich small country on the northwest corner of the island of Borneo. Her position in the sultanate was deputy chief of mission, but for half of her time there she was acting ambassador. She is the 2022 winner of the James Clement Dunn Award for her work to empower LGBTQ+ people, and reverse decades-long discrimination against female diplomats.
Before joining the foreign service, Fleckner worked as a senior editor at the Economist Intelligence Unit in New York City and earned a master’s degree in political economy from the London School of Economics.
The consulate in Calgary opened its doors here in 1906 with a consul and half-time assistant. Today, Fleckner oversees a staff of 120, including 75 American officers, U.S. citizens and Canadians, and the team of U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Calgary International Airport, plus consular affairs for Manitoba. Her responsibilities cover a huge land area of Alberta, Saskatchewan and the N.W.T., one of the largest consular districts in the world, which will mean a lot of travel. Her first function was to attend British Day at Spruce Meadows, where she met many other members of the consular corps, and has already flown to Yellowknife to attend meetings with Ambassador to Canada David Cohen to discuss several topics, including climate change and economic development.
Busy settling in to her new home and responsibilities and getting to know her staff, Fleckner has found time with her outdoors-loving family to enjoy some recreation. Her husband Daniel is an avid cyclist — who can chalk up the Paris to Brest return ride over 90 hours — and he has already joined a cycling group here.
After enjoying jungle hiking, the family is looking forward to spending time walking our foothills and mountain trails. Fleckner loves skiing, but only cross-country for now. “I’m from Wisconsin,” she says, “We don’t have hills, never mind mountains.”
Notes:
David Parker appears regularly in the Herald. Read his columns online at calgaryherald.com/business. He can be reached at 403-830-4622.