The South Haven Speaker Series will kick off its 12th season on Thursday, April 30 with former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink.
Brink is a west Michigan native who represented the U.S. in Ukraine for four years, including during the Russian invasion in 2022. She previously served as U.S. Ambassador to Slovakia and has held positions in the State Department since 1996.
South Haven Speaker Series board member Joan Bauer tells us she’s looking forward to hearing the ambassador’s thoughts on that region of the world.
“I’m hoping that Ambassador Brink is able to talk about the importance of Eastern Europe, all of the countries of Eastern Europe, and that really is where she has spent most of her foreign service career,” Bauer said.
And because Brink was in Ukraine at the time of the Russian invasion, Bauer says this month’s engagement could give attendees new insight into the war that continues to this day.
“I think it’ll be very interesting to hear somebody who firsthand was on the ground living in Ukraine, being our ambassador from the United States, and her insights into that war. And also her insights into why this war is continuing on.”
Brink resigned as ambassador to Ukraine in February of 2025 due to her concerns about where the U.S. relationship with that country was heading.
South Haven Speaker Series President Elain Stephens tells us Brink has seen the U.S. State Department and federal policies from multiple perspectives.
“I think it’s important to note that she has served under both Republican and Democratic presidents, administrations. Also, one of the things I’m looking forward to is her analysis of currently what is the U.S. doing for Ukraine. If anything, it’s on the back burner and so we don’t really have a good sense of what’s going on there now.”
Stephens says the South Haven Speaker Series board always selects its speakers by first deciding which topics it wants to address in a given season.
“We absolutely start by looking at topics and over the course of two very lengthy board meetings. We go through a process of beginning with probably 20 topics that we think will be current and of interest to our audience, always keeping in mind our mission, issues, innovations, and ideas impacting our lives. That’s our mission. We keep that in line. And we select and eventually get down to five topics.”
Somehow, it’s always able to find engaging and insightful speakers for each one.
“We’ve really developed some procedures. We go to the universities, I think probably first of all. We have a network of contacts that we call upon to help us. It takes several months and then somehow magically, somehow it all comes together.”
In this case, Brink just happened to be Bauer’s neighbor in Lansing.
The engagement on April 30 will be at the South Haven campus of Lake Michigan College and begin at 7 p.m. Doors will open at 6:15 with a reception including drinks and hors d’oeuvres. It’s $10 to attend and everyone’s welcome.