Distinguished Voices Lecture Series

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Jon Huntsman- Former Governor of Utah and Ambassador of the United States to Russia, China and Singapore.

 

Ambassador Huntsman began his career in public service as a staff assistant to President Ronald Reagan. He has served each of the five U.S. presidents since then in critical roles around the world, including as the Ambassador to Singapore, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Asia, U.S. Trade Ambassador, U.S. Ambassador to China, and most recently, U.S. Ambassador to Russia. In all Senate confirmations, he received unanimous votes. Twice elected governor of Utah, Governor Huntsman brought about strong economic and tax reforms, tripled the state's rainy-day fund, and helped bring unemployment rates to historic lows.

Historically Huntsman was one of Utah's most popular governors, reaching approval ratings as high as 90 percent. During his tenure, Utah was named the best managed state in America and ranked number one in the nation in job growth. Recognized by others for his service, Governor Huntsman was elected as Chairman of the Western Governors Association, serving nineteen states throughout the region. Ambassador Huntsman was a candidate for the Presidency in 2012 where he ultimately placed third in the New Hampshire primary before bowing out. Previously he served as Chairman of the Atlantic Council and on the boards of Ford Motor Company, Caterpillar Corporation, Chevron Corporation, Hilton, the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation, and the University of Pennsylvania. In addition, he served as a distinguished fellow at the Brookings Institute, a trustee of the Reagan Presidential Foundation, and Chairman of the Huntsman Cancer Foundation.

Ambassador Huntsman has served as a visiting fellow at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, as well as a distinguished lecturer at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy. He was recently inducted into the American Academy of Diplomacy. Huntsman is a seventh generation Utah and has been married for 36 years to Mary Kaye Huntsman. Together they are the parents of seven children, including two adopted daughters from China and India. His two sons, both graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy, are active duty naval officers. Huntsman is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and has ten honorary doctoral degrees.

 

 

 

Amy Chua - Best Selling Author and John M. Duff, Jr. Professor of Law at Yale Law School

Amy Chua is the John M. Duff, Jr. Professor of Law at Yale Law School. She graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School, where she was Executive Editor of the Harvard Law Review. After practicing on Wall Street for a few years, she joined the Yale Law School faculty in 2001 and is a noted expert in the areas of foreign policy, globalization, and ethnic conflict. Amy is the bestselling author of numerous books, including World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability (2002), which was selected by both The Economist and the U.K.’s Guardian as a Best Book of 2003, Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance – and Why They Fall (2007); and The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America (2013). Her 2011 memoir Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother was a runaway international bestseller that has been translated into 30 languages. Her latest book is Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations. Professor Chua has lectured widely around the world, including at the World Bank, the CIA, Aspen Ideas Festival, the Brookings Institution, the World Knowledge Forum in Seoul, and the World Economic Forum in Davos. In 2011, she was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world, one of the Atlantic Monthly’s Brave Thinkers, and one of Foreign Policy’s Global Thinkers. She also received the Yale Law School’s “Best Teaching” award.