Shefali Razdan Duggal Keynote Speaker

Shefali Razdan Duggal was sworn in as the U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands on September 20, 2022, and presented her credentials to His Majesty King Willem-Alexander on October 19, 2022. She is the first person of color to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Shefali is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Council of American Ambassadors, Foreign Policy for America, Meridian International Center and a Board Member of the Netherlands America Foundation.

Prior to serving as Ambassador, Shefali was a San Francisco Committee member of Human Rights Watch, a member of the Leadership and Character Council at Wake Forest University and served on the National Advisory Board of Inside Washington at Miami University of Ohio. She actively engaged in political advocacy, serving on the National Finance Committee for Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign and as a National Co-Chair of Women for Biden. Shefali also held the position of Deputy National Finance Chair at the Democratic National Committee.

From 2014 to 2020, she served on the National Board of Directors of EMILY’s List. She was appointed by President Barack Obama to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Council (2014–2018) and later served as a Western Regional Advisor to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Throughout her career, she has held leadership roles in numerous national political campaigns.

A Kashmiri Pandit born in Haridwar U.P. India, Shefali moved to the United States at the age of two and grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. Shefali was raised by a single mom, who worked two minimum wage jobs to support them, working hard as a seamstress during the day and cutting vegetables at the local grocery store in the evening. Shefali had nothing handed to her and worked her way up from her humble beginnings, with a heart focused on giving back and mentoring the next generation. Her hope is to continue inspiring people to have faith in themselves, as she fundamentally believes in the possibilities of the American Dream. For love and loyalty to the United States, Shefali became a naturalized U.S. citizen on November 16, 1990.

Ambassador Razdan Duggal holds a B.S. in Mass Communication, with a minor in Political Science, from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and an M.A. in Media Ecology from New York University. She also received an honorary doctorate from Miami University.

On International Women’s Day, March 8, 2024, the Dutch honored her by naming a fuchsia-pink tulip, the “Tulipa Shefali,” making her the first ambassador to the Netherlands, from any country, to receive such a tribute. That same year, she was nominated for the U.S. Department of State’s prestigious Sue M. Cobb Award for Exemplary Diplomatic Service for her work representing the United States in the Netherlands—the first U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands to receive this nomination.

Ambassador Razdan Duggal is known for her values of authenticity, kindness, positivity, hard work and service. She is married and has two adult children.

Semiconductors, Innovation, and Global Leadership

During her tenure as U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Shefali Razdan Duggal gained unique firsthand insight into one of the most critical players in the global semiconductor supply chain: ASML, the Dutch company at the forefront of advanced lithography technology. Her direct engagement with ASML provided her with a deep appreciation for the strategic importance of semiconductors to economic competitiveness, national security and global stability. Ambassador Razdan Duggal can speak to the role of public–private collaboration in securing resilient semiconductor ecosystems, the diplomatic dynamics of Transatlantic cooperation in high-tech industries and how innovation in semiconductor technology shapes everything from healthcare to defense. Drawing from her leadership experience, she frames semiconductors both as hardware, and as foundational to the values of trust, security and global interdependence. By blending her diplomatic expertise with a forward-looking perspective, Shefali offers audiences a nuanced view of how the semiconductor industry sits at the nexus of innovation, geopolitics and societal progress.