R. Nicholas Burns

Ambassador R. Nicholas Burns is Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Atlantic Council, the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress and the Appeal of Conscience Foundation. In summer 2008, he was a Visiting Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington D.C. Ambassador Burns served in the United States Foreign Service for twenty-seven years until his retirement in April 2008. Ambassador Burns served as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 2005 to 2008, the nation’s highest-ranking career diplomat. In this position, he led negotiations on Iran, India, Kosovo and many other issues and oversaw U.S. diplomatic efforts in each region of the world.

He has received honorary doctorates from ten American universities, the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award (from Condoleezza Rice), the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service from the Johns Hopkins University and the Boston College Alumni Achievement Award.