Annual Gala Awards Dinner

The George F. Kennan Award for Distinguished Public Service

The Honorable Stephen E. Biegun Former Deputy Secretary of State

Stephen E. Biegun has more than three decades of international affairs experience in government and the private sector, including high-level government service with the Department of State, the White House, and the United States Congress. In 2021, Mr. Biegun concluded his most recent government service as the United States Deputy Secretary of State, to which he was confirmed by the Senate with a strong bipartisan vote of 90–3. In addition to his government service, Mr. Biegun also worked for two decades in the private sector as a corporate vice president with both Ford Motor Company and The Boeing Company.

As the State Department’s second ranking diplomat, Mr. Biegun oversaw the full breadth of national security and foreign policy decision-making, reporting to the Secretary of State. He led the State Department response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the evacuation of over 100,000 Americans stranded abroad during the shutdown of travel. His other principal efforts were focused on the Korean Peninsula, US-China relations, the broader Indo-Pacific region, US-Russia relations, Eastern Europe, and arms control.

Mr. Biegun began his career as a foreign policy specialist with the United States Congress, with a focus on Russia, the former Soviet Union, and Europe, ultimately rising to a number of senior-level positions including chief of staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and as the national security advisor to Senate Majority Leader. He spent two years as the Executive Secretary of the White House National Security Council, serving as an advisor and deputy to the National Security Advisor. In the early 1990s, Mr. Biegun led a Moscow-based technical assistance program working closely with Russia’s first post-Soviet government.

Mr. Biegun serves on the boards of the National Endowment for Democracy and the German Marshall Fund. He graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Russian language and political science.

The William J. Flynn Initiative for Peace Award

Michael J. Dowling CEO Emeritus, Northwell Health

Michael Dowling is one of health care’s most influential voices, taking a stand on societal issues such as gun violence and immigration that many healthcare leaders shy away from. As CEO Emeritus, he serves Northwell Health in an advisory capacity, supporting the advancement of key public health initiatives, and focusing on teaching and writing.

Mr. Dowling served as Northwell’s first president and chief executive officer for more than 23 years before transitioning to his role of CEO Emeritus in October 2025. His extraordinary tenure was characterized by significant growth, industry innovation, and a steadfast commitment to enhancing health for all.

Mr. Dowling has been honored with many awards over the years. In 2024, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland presented him with an Honorary Fellowship, the organization’s highest honor that recognizes those who have made significant contributions, and who can inspire future generations of surgical leaders. In 2020, he received the Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad, which recognizes individuals for their contributions to Ireland and to Irish communities abroad, presented by the President of Ireland. He also received an honorary fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and is a board member of the Foreign Policy Association.

In 2025, TIME recognized Mr. Dowling as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Global Health. In 2020, Mr. Dowling received the Deming Cup from the Columbia Business School and was ranked No. 1 on Modern Healthcare’s 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare in 2022. In 2017, he served as the Grand Marshal of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in NYC. He also chairs the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

Prior to joining Northwell in 1995, Mr. Dowling served in New York State government for 12 years. He held several leadership roles, including director of health, education and human services; commissioner of social services, and deputy secretary and chief adviser to former Governor Mario Cuomo. Mr. Dowling was previously a professor of social policy and an assistant dean of Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Services.

In addition, he received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and a number of honorary degrees from Fordham University, University College Dublin (Ireland) and the prestigious Queen’s University Belfast.

Mr. Dowling is a respected author of multiple books, covering both critical healthcare topics and his life story. His works include Leading Through a Pandemic (2020) on Northwell’s COVID-19 response, his 2020 memoir After the Roof Caved In, and the co-authored The Aging Revolution (2024) and Health Care Reboot (2018), which explore geriatric health advancements and broader trends in American medicine, respectively.

The Award for Excellence in Cultural Diplomacy and International Engagement

Denise Murrell, PhD Merryl H. and James S. Tisch Curator at Large, Office of the Director, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Denise Murrell, PhD, is the Merryl H. and James S. Tisch Curator at Large, Office of the Director, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She was the curator of The Met’s 2024 exhibition The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism.

She curated past exhibitions, including Posing Modernity: The Black Model from Manet and Matisse to Today (2018–19) at Columbia University’s Wallach Art Gallery as the Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Research Scholar (2014–19), as well as Matisse and Martinique: Portraits and Poetry (2026) as an inaugural visiting curatorial fellow at the Baltimore Museum of Art. She co-curated the Posing Modernity exhibition’s expansion at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, as Le modèle noir de Géricault à Matisse (2019) and was a guest lecturer at its final tour as Le modèle noir de Géricault à Picasso (2019) at Memorial ACTe in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe.

Dr. Murrell was the author of the Posing Modernity exhibition catalog (Yale University Press and The Wallach Art Gallery, 2018), which received College Art Association and Dedalus Foundation book awards, and an essayist for the related Musée d’Orsay catalog. She has taught art history at Columbia University in New York and in Paris and has published essays and given public lectures at numerous museums and universities in the US, the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Prior to receiving her art history PhD (Columbia University, 2014), she received an MBA from Harvard Business School (1980) and a BS degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1976) and had an extended career in finance and consulting, concluding as Managing Director, Institutional Investor Research Group, Euromoney Institutional Investor Plc (1995–2005).

Denise Murrell is a member of the National Advisory Board of the Ackland Art Museum at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the External Advisory Committee for the Atlanta University Center art history department, and the Global Africa Advisory Committee of the Art Gallery of Ontario.

In 2024, Dr. Murrell received the John C. Whitehead Award for Social Enterprise from the Harvard Business School Club of New York. In 2022, she was inducted as Chevalier (Knight) de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.