Ambassador William B. Taylor: Russia's War on Ukraine - Prospects for Peace

Biography

Ambassador William B. Taylor is a distinguished fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, where he brings decades of diplomatic leadership and expertise to this role. Prior to the Atlantic Council, Taylor was vice president, Europe and Russia at the US Institute of Peace, building on a career of diplomatic engagement and conflict resolution that included serving in several of the world's most complex regions.

Taylor was US Ambassador to Ukraine from 2006 to 2009, and later returned as chargé d'affaires at the US Embassy in Kyiv in 2019 during a pivotal period in U.S.-Ukraine relations. He served as the special coordinator for Middle East Transitions at the US Department of State from 2011 to 2013, where he oversaw assistance and support to the Middle East during the Arab Spring—including support to Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and Syria. Taylor served in Jerusalem as the US Government’s representative to the Middle East Quartet, which facilitated the Israeli disengagement from Gaza and parts of the West Bank. Prior to this assignment, he served in Baghdad as director of the Iraq Reconstruction Office from 2004 to 2005; in Kabul as coordinator of US Government and international assistance to Afghanistan from 2002-2003; and in Washington with the rank of ambassador as coordinator of US Government assistance to the former Soviet Union countries and Eastern Europe from 1992-2002.

Before joining the US State Department, Taylor spent five years in Brussels as the Special Deputy Defense Advisor to the US Ambassador to NATO, William Taft. Prior to that, Bill directed an in-house Defense Department think tank at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C.

Taylor holds a Bachelor of Science from the US Military Academy at West Point, and a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Taylor also served as an infantry platoon leader and combat company commander in the US Army in Vietnam and Germany.

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