Speaker biographies
Claude Barfield is a resident scholar at AEI. He is the author or editor of a number of books on trade and science policy, including Free Trade, Sovereignty, Democracy: The Future of the World Trade Organization (AEI Press, 2001). In 1999, he coauthored Tiger by the Tail: China and the World Trade Organization (AEI Press) with Mark Groombridge. Before coming to AEI, he served in the Ford administration, on the staff of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, and as a co–staff director of the President’s Commission for a National Agenda for the Eighties
Dan Blumenthal joined the AEI in November 2004 as a resident fellow in Asian studies. He has served on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Commission since 2005, serving as vice chairman in 2007, and as a member of the Academic Advisory Board for the Congressional U.S.-China Working Group. Previously, Mr. Blumenthal was senior director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for international security affairs during the first George W. Bush administration. In addition to writing for AEI’s Asian Outlook series, he has written articles and op-eds for the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, National Review, and numerous edited volumes. He is currently working on a book that will examine divides within the China policymaking community.
Rupert Hammond-Chambers was appointed president of the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council in 2000, at in which he has worked to develop the council’s role as a partner for American businesses in Asia. Mr. Hammond-Chambers has worked for the council since October 1994, following a position as associate for development at the Center for Security Policy. He also sits on the advisory boards of Redwood Partners International, the Sabatier Group, and the Pacific Star Fund. He is a trustee of Fettes College and a member of the National Committee on United States–China Relations and the Council on Foreign Relations.
Michael Mitchell is a founding partner of Orion Strategies, LLC, a government relations and public advocacy firm founded in 2001. From 1988 to 1991, he served as a press secretary to Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), developing and implementing communications outreach programs to build coalitions in support of his legislative priorities. From 1991 to 1992, he was the director of legislative affairs in the Department of State’s Office of International Narcotics Matters (now International Narcotics and Legal Affairs). From 1992 to 1999, he was a senior program officer at the International Republican Institute for central and Southeast Asia.
Danielle Pletka is the vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at AEI. Her research areas include the Middle East, South Asia, terrorism, and weapons proliferation. While at AEI, Ms. Pletka has developed a conference series on rebuilding post-Saddam Iraq and a project on democracy in the Arab world. She recently served as a member of the congressionally-mandated Task Force on the United Nations, established by the United States Institute of Peace. Before coming to AEI, she served for ten years as a senior professional staff member for the Near East and South Asia on the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
Randall Schriver is a founding partner of Armitage International LLC and a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He previously served as deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs from 2003 to 2005 and as chief of staff and senior policy advisor to then–deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage from 2001 to 2003. Prior to his work at the State Department, he was an independent consultant and a visiting fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense as a presidential management fellow from 1994 to 1998. Mr. Schriver has also served as an active-duty naval intelligence officer. He was on the Bush-Cheney Defense Transition Team and was a member of the Asia policy team for the Bush-Cheney campaign in 2000. He has won numerous military and civilian awards from the U.S. government and was recently presented with the Order of the Propitious Clouds by the president of Taiwan for promoting U.S.-Taiwan relations.
Mark A. Stokes is the founder and president of Quantum Pacific Enterprises, an international consulting firm. Before founding Quantum Pacific, he served as vice president and Taiwan country manager for Raytheon International. He previously was executive vice president of Laifu Trading Company, a subsidiary of the Rehfeldt Group. Mr. Stokes also has been a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a member of the board of governors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan. He has also been team chief and senior country director for the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, and Mongolia in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. Mr. Stokes served in the U.S. Air Force for twenty years, retiring with the grade of lieutenant colonel.
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