Ambassador William B. Taylor is vice president, Russia and Europe, at the US Institute of Peace. In 2019, he served as chargé d’affaires at the US embassy in Kyiv. During the Arab Spring, he oversaw US assistance and support to Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and Syria. He served as the US ambassador to Ukraine from 2006 to 2009.

Ambassador Taylor also served as the US 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 US assistance to Afghanistan from 2002 to 2003. Ambassador Taylor was also coordinator of US 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 Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and served as an infantry platoon leader and combat company commander in the US Army in Vietnam and Germany.

He joined Spirit of America’s Advisory Board in 2022.