Raymond Burghardt, recently retired U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam, joined the East-West Center in January 2005 as the Director of East-West Seminars. He is the highest-ranking diplomat to join the Center since the 1960s. In February 2006, the Board of Trustees of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) named Ambassador Burghardt Chairman of the AIT board. Burghardt holds the AIT position concurrently with his position at the East-West Center. AIT is a private cooperation established in 1979 to manage U.S. relations with Taiwan in the absence of formal diplomatic ties. Ambassador Burghardt served as the Ambassador to Vietnam from 2001- September 2004. He was formerly the Director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) from 1999-2001. He previously served as American Consul General in Shanghai (1997-1999), as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassies in Manila (1993-96) and Seoul (1990-93), and as Political Counselor in Beijing (1987-89).

During the first six months of the Clinton Administration in 1993, Ambassador Burghardt served as Charge d’ Affaires at the U. S. Embassy in Seoul. Ambassador Burghardt's previous positions also have included an assignment on the National Security Council staff as Special Assistant to President Reagan and Senior Director of Latin American Affairs. He also served at the U.S. Embassies in Honduras and Guatemala. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Colombia before joining the Foreign Service. Ambassador Burghardt received a B.A. from Columbia College in 1967 and did graduate study at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs. He speaks Vietnamese, Mandarin Chinese and Spanish.