Derek Mitchell
Ambassador Derek Mitchell currently serves as senior adviser to the President, and Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington D.C. From 2018 to 2023, Ambassador Mitchell was president of the National Democratic Institute, a U.S.-based non-profit, non-government organization dedicated to supporting democratic development worldwide, including in Ukraine for more than 30 years. From 2011-16, he served as U.S. special envoy and ambassador to Burma (Myanmar), the first in 22 years, during a historic period in the country’s nascent democratic transition. From 2009-11, Ambassador Mitchell oversaw the Obama Defense Department’s Asia policy as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs and acting Assistant Secretary. Ambassador Mitchell had previously served as Special Assistant to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Affairs during the Clinton Administration. From 2001-2009, Ambassador Mitchell was senior fellow for Asia in CSIS’s International Security Program, where he founded the Center’s Southeast Asia Program.
Ambassador Mitchell has authored numerous books, articles, policy reports, and opinion pieces on international affairs. He received a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia, and was a visiting scholar at Peking University in 2007.