Richard C. Holbrooke

Richard C. Holbrooke is Vice Chairman of Perseus, a leading private equity firm. He most recently served as the US Ambassador to the United Nations, where he was also a member of President Clinton’s cabinet (1999–2001). As Assistant Secretary of State for Europe (1994–96), he was the chief architect of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the war in Bosnia. He later served as President Clinton’s Special Envoy to Bosnia and Kosovo and Special Envoy to Cyprus on a pro-bono basis while a private citizen. From 1993 to 1994, he was the US Ambassador to Germany. In September 1994, The American Academy in Berlin was established on the initiative of Richard C. Holbrooke together with a number of other distinguished Americans and Germans committed to a strong transatlantic relationship. Ambassador Holbrooke is the Chairman of The American Academy in Berlin.

From 1977 to 1981, during the Carter Administration, he served as the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and was in charge of US relations with China at the time Sino-American relations were normalized in December 1978.

After joining the foreign service in 1962, Ambassador Holbrooke served in Vietnam (1963–66), including a tour of duty in the Mekong Delta for the US Agency for International Development (USAID). He worked on Vietnam policy at the Johnson White House (1966–68), wrote one volume of the Pentagon Papers, and was a member of the American delegation to the Vietnam Peace Talks in Paris (1968–69).

Ambassador Holbrooke was Peace Corps director in Morocco (1970–72), managing editor of Foreign Policy (1972–77), and held senior positions at two leading Wall Street firms, Credit Suisse First Boston (vice chairman) and Lehman Brothers (managing director). He has written numerous articles and two best-selling books: To End a War, a memoir of the Dayton negotiations, and Counsel to the President, the memoir of Clark Clifford, with whom he coauthored the book. He writes a monthly column for The Washington Post.

Richard Holbrooke has received over 20 honorary degrees and numerous awards, including several Nobel Peace Prize nominations. He is the Founding Chairman of The American Academy in Berlin, a center for US-German cultural exchange; President and CEO of the Global Business Coalition, the business alliance against HIV/AIDS; and Chairman of the Asia Society. He is on the board of American International Group. NGO board memberships include the American Museum of Natural History, the National Endowment for Democracy, the Citizens Committee for New York City, the Council on Foreign Relations, and Refugees International. He is Director Emeritus of The Africa-America Institute, on the advisory boards of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) and USA for UNHCR, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the US Board of Governors of Interpeace, and a Brown University Professor-at-Large.