Duane Butcher - Special Advisor to the Board of Directors on the Ukraine Crisis

Duane Butcher retired from the Senior Foreign Service of the United States with the rank of Minister-Counselor. He is the former Executive Director for the Bureau of African Affairs. Before that he served as Director of the Office of Overseas Employment, responsible for the management of the Department’s 50,000 Locally Employed Staff around the world. He was previously the Director of the Office of Planning and Performance in the Bureau of Budget and Planning and Acting Performance Information Officer for the Department of State.

He served as Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’Affaires in Bucharest, Romania, and in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, (spending a total of two and a half years as Chargé d’Affaires.) Before that he was Principal Officer at our Consulate General in Hamburg, Germany.

He was also Management Counselor in Belgrade, Serbia, Bucharest, Romania, and Baku, Azerbaijan as well as General Services Officer in Muscat, Oman. And he was Supervisory Post Management Officer, responsible for the New Independent States, in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.

Duane is a graduate of Carleton College, in Northfield, Minnesota, and of the International School of Kenya. He holds the Star of Romania with the rank of Commander and an honorary doctorate from the National School of Political Science and Administration in Bucharest, Romania.

He and his wife Nazilia have two sons.