Meet the State Department’s 2022 Sammies Finalists

At the Department of State, we are thrilled to share that Scott Busby; Samantha Sutton; Hilary Ingraham, Holly Herrera, and Kiera Berdinner, and the Operation Allies Welcome Resettlement Team have been selected as the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal (Sammies) finalists. The Sammies, sometimes called the “Oscars” of government service, is a prestigious award that honors public servants across the federal workforce. Our finalists are among 30 federal employees across 22 federal agencies honored as 2022 Sammies finalists for their outstanding contributions to safety, public health, and sustainability across our nation and the world.

Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Affairs Scott Busby is one of the five national finalists for the Paul A. Volcker Career Achievement Medal. This medal recognizes a federal employee for leading significant and sustained accomplishments throughout a federal career of 20 or more years. DAS Busby designed and oversaw landmark efforts to advance human rights overseas and hold violators accountable.

Samantha Sutton, an advisor at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations currently detailed as the chief of staff to the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, is one of five finalists for the Emerging Leaders Medal. This medal recognizes young federal employees under the age of 35, who have made an important contribution early in their professional career. Ms. Sutton played an important behind-the-scenes role across three presidential administrations as an adviser on U.S. policy toward Israel and the Palestinians.

Hilary Ingraham, Refugee Processing Center Director;  Holly Herrera, Domestic Resettlement Section Chief; Kiera Berdinner, Program Officer; and the Operation Allies Welcome Resettlement Team of the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) represent one of five finalists for the Safety, Security, and International Affairs Medal. This medal recognizes a federal employee or team for a significant accomplishment in fields such as counterterrorism, civil rights, defense and military affairs, diplomacy, foreign assistance, trade, consumer protection, cybersecurity and emergency preparedness and response. The PRM team coordinated the largest resettlement of refugees in modern U.S. history, providing housing and services in record time to more than 72,000 Afghans who fled from Afghanistan in 2021 as American forces withdrew from the war-torn country.