The Georgia Council for International Visitors is set to honor a man who has played a key role in connecting Atlanta’s diplomatic and educational communities.
Charlie Bedford, former president of the Atlanta Council for International Relations, is to receive the council’s Citizen Diplomat award at the consular ball March 28. The award is the nonprofit’s highest honor for organizations and individuals that promote cross-cultural understanding.
Mr. Bedford, an Atlanta resident since 1979, directed The University Center in Georgia, a private consortium of 19 colleges and universities, where among other responsibilities he kick-started efforts to internationalize the group by inviting members of the Atlanta Consular Corps to speak. He continued that tradition with the ACIR, where he has hosted ambassadors from Germany, France, Mexico, United Kingdom, Greece, Belgium and other countries, along with Atlanta-based experts on international matters.
Among a variety of other honors and titles, Mr. Bedford received the National Order of Merit from the French government for his role in cross-cultural connections. He has also traveled abroad with the Atlanta-based Friendship Force, served as president of the International Club of Atlanta and chair of the international committee at the Rotary Club of Atlanta and hosted international students from all over the world at the home of he and his wife, Nancy.
The Citizen Diplomat Award is not given out annually, but only when a der Jose Ignacio Gonzalez (2004) and Italian Honorary Consul Angela Della Costanza Turneserving candidate is identified, according to the GCIV. Mr. Bedford joins previous winners including former Delta Air Lines Inc. CEO Gerald Grinstein (2007), Hemisphere Inc. Executive Director (2005) and Maria Teresa de Fraser, honorary consul of Guatemala (2006).
For Mr. Bedford’s full bio or more information about the consular ball, visit www.gciv.org.
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