June 18 was the first day of the meetings scheduled for the business delegation to San Francisco. The small group of businessmen from Philippines, Inc. included yours truly.
When the schedule was presented to us during our board meeting at the beginning of the year, I already got excited because it coincided with my trip to the US. There wouldn’t be any conflict with my schedule while here.
For months, Stratbase’s US IT clients worked closely with the Commercial Attache at the Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C. and with the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco to arrange for our visits to several companies.
Stratbase initially announced that we would be meeting with the former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice at the Hoover Institution and with US Ambassador Armacost at the Spogli Freeman Institution, both in Stanford University. Unfortunately, Condoleeza Rice was scheduled to have a family vacation on the dates of our trip. Ambassador Armacost confirmed his attendance at the meeting.
Ambassador Michael Armacost, 82, is a fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute. He was the President of the Brookings Institution from 1995 to 2002.
Armacost was a member of the National Security Council for East Asia and Chinese affairs from 1977-1978. He was US Ambassador to the Philippines from 1982 to 1984. After his stint in the Philippines, he was undersecretary of State for Political Affairs then after he became US Ambassador to Japan from 1989 to 1993.
