Ambassador Adrian A. Basora is a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and Director of the Project on Democratic Transitions, an in-depth assessment of the political, economic and social transitions of postcommunist Europe/Eurasia twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Project continues to analyze the successes and failures of these countries’ transformation efforts and their evolving relationships with the U.S., the European Union and other Western institutions, deriving lessons learned that can strengthencurrent efforts to establish successful democracies and market economies in the region in the face of new adversities.

Ambassador Basora also serves as Past President and trustee of Eisenhower Fellowships, actively participating in an EF global leadership network that includes the former President of Turkey, a recent Prime Minister of Taiwan and over 100 past and current cabinet ministers, plus several hundred other leaders such as CEOs, university rectors and NGO and media directors in over 50 key countries.

Earlier, as U.S. Ambassador in Prague, 1992-95, Mr. Basora worked with Czech and Slovak leaders to assure a successful transition during the periods preceding and following Czechoslovakia’s “Velvet Divorce.” He led implementation of American assistance programs and guided U.S. policy in support of the Czech transition to a successful market economy and consolidated democracy, thus helping to lay the groundwork for Czech entry into NATO, the OECD and the European Union.

As a career Foreign Service officer on detail to the White House 1989 to 1991, Mr. Basora served as National Security Council Director for European Affairs and participated in the reshaping of U.S.-European Union relations and in the U.S. response to the fall of the Berlin Wall and to the Gulf War. Earlier, he was Deputy Chief of Mission and then Chargé d’Affaires in Madrid, Political Counselor in Paris, and held varied political and economic assignments in Europe, Latin America and Washington. He is fluent in French and Spanish and retains a working knowledge of Czech, Romanian and Italian.

Ambassador Basora is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a trustee of the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) and an Independent Director of the Quaker Investment Trust. He holds an MPA in International Affairs from Princeton University and undergraduate degrees from Fordham University and the Institut d’Études Politiques in Paris.