The EastWest Institute (EWI) is pleased to announce the promotion of long-time EWI Vice President for Strategic Trust-Building and Track 2 Diplomacy David J. Firestein to the rank of senior vice president. A nearly seven-year veteran of EWI, Firestein is the longest serving current senior EWI staff leader and one of the longest-serving vice presidents in EWI's history. Under his stewardship, EWI has achieved some of its most iconic programmatic successes.

David Firestein is an extraordinary asset to the EastWest Institute, said Amb. Cameron Munter, EWI's president and CEO. His combination of leadership attributes, diplomatic experience, depth on China and Russia, foreign language acumen, policy entrepreneurship and financial management and fundraising prowess are truly a rare combination. EWI is enormously fortunate to have David as a critical member of the Institute's leadership team and as EWI's ambassador to Washington, D.C.

Prior to joining EWI in 2009, Firestein served in the U.S. Foreign Service for nearly two decades. A prolific writer and sought-after public speaker and media commentator, he is the author or co-author of three books on China, including two China-published best-sellers, a number of major policy reports, and about 150 op-ed articles in major U.S., Chinese and Russian publications. Firestein was the first foreign citizen to have a column in a P.R.C. newspaper (1995-1996) and the first sitting foreign diplomat to have a faculty appointment at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) (2001); he later held an adjunct appointment to the graduate faculty of the University of Texas (2006-2008). Firestein is a graduate of Georgetown University and the University of Texas. He resides in the Washington, D.C. area