April 7, 2015

William B. Taylor, Jr. is acting executive vice president at the United States Institute of Peace. From 2011 to 2013 he was the Special Coordinator for Middle East Transitions in the State Department, appointed by the Secretary of State to ensure that U.S. support for the countries of the Arab revolutions was coordinated and effective. He coordinated assistance and support to Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Syria.

He served as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine from 2006 to 2009. Earlier, he served in Jerusalem as the U.S. government’s representative to the Mideast Quartet, which facilitated the Israeli disengagement from Gaza and parts of the West Bank. He served in Baghdad as the first director of the Iraq Reconstruction Management Office from 2004 to 2005, and in Kabul as coordinator of international and U.S. assistance to Afghanistan from 2002 to 2003. Ambassador Taylor was also coordinator of U.S. assistance to the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. He served on the staff of Senator Bill Bradley.

As an infantry platoon leader and combat company commander in the U.S. Army, he served in Vietnam and Germany.

He graduated from USMA at West Point and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He is married with two adult children.