Experts

Ambassador William B. Taylor

Practitioner Senior Fellow

Fast Facts

  • Vice president, U.S. Institute of Peace
  • Former chargé d’affaires and U.S. ambassador to Ukraine 
  • Oversaw U.S. assistance Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and Syria during the Arab Spring
  • Served in Jerusalem as the U.S. government's representative to the Mideast Quartet
  • Expertise on foreign policy, diplomacy, the Middle East, Afghanistan, Ukraine 

Areas Of Expertise

  • Foreign Affairs
  • American Defense and Security
  • War and Terrorism
  • Europe
  • Middle East

Ambassador William B. Taylor is vice president, Europe and Russia at the U.S. Institute of Peace. In 2019, he served as chargé d’affaires at the U.S. embassy in Kyiv and as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine from 2006 to 2009. During the Arab Spring, he oversaw U.S. assistance and support to Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and Syria. He served in Jerusalem as the U.S. government's representative to the Mideast Quartet. He also served in Kabul in 2002 and in Baghdad in 2004.

In the 1990s, Ambassador Taylor coordinated U.S. assistance to the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. He earlier served on the staff of Senator Bill Bradley.

Ambassador Taylor is a graduate of West Point and the Harvard Kennedy School and served as an infantry platoon leader and combat company commander in the U.S. Army in Vietnam and Germany.