Ambassador James F. Collins is Senior Fellow and former Director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is an expert on the former Soviet Union, its successor states, and on the Middle East.

Ambassador Collins, a retired career member of the U.S. Foreign Service, served as U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation from 1997 to 2001. Prior to that assignment he held positions as Ambassador-at-Large and Special Advisor to the Secretary of State for the New Independent States in the mid 1990s and as deputy chief of mission and charge d’affaires at the American Embassy, Moscow from 1990 to 1993. In addition to three diplomatic postings in Moscow, he also served in the American Embassy in Amman, Jordan and the Consulate General in Izmir, Turkey, positions in the European and Near East bureaus and the executive offices at the Department of State, and on the National Security Council Staff at the White House.

Following retirement from government service, Ambassador Collins worked as Senior Advisor at the public law and policy practice group Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, L.L.P.​ prior to joining the Carnegie endowment in 2007. He has been active on the boards of non-profit organizations concerned with U.S. foreign policy and U.S. relations with Russia, East Europe and Eurasia, serving as co Chairman of the Board of the U.S.-Russia Foundation, and as a member of the boards​ of the U.S.-Russia Business Council, the American Academy of Diplomacy, the Open World Leadership Center, and American Councils for International Education.

He is the recipient of the Secretary of State’s Award for Distinguished Service; the Department of State’s Distinguished Honor Award; the Secretary of State’s Award for Career Achievement; the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, the NASA Medal for Distinguished Service, and the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service.