Experts

Ambassador Marc Knapper served in the Department of State as a Foreign Service Officer for 33 years, including as the United States Ambassador to Vietnam from 2022 to 2026. During that time, he led U.S. efforts to upgrade the U.S.-Vietnam relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.  Under his leadership, relations between the United States and Vietnam expanded dramatically in areas as diverse as trade and investment, defense and security, and energy, education, and health cooperation.
 
Ambassador Knapper was also among the U.S. Government’s top experts on Japan and Korea, having served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Japan and Korea, the Acting U.S. Ambassador in Seoul, and the State Department’s Director for Japan Affairs. Earlier diplomatic positions include Director for India Affairs, as well as assignments to Seoul, Baghdad, Tokyo, Hanoi, and Pyongyang.
 
Ambassador Knapper is a recipient of the U.S. Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award, the United States’s highest diplomatic honor. He received the Government of Vietnam’s Order of Friendship, the highest honor that can be accorded a foreigner. He is also a recipient of the Department of Defense POW-MIA Accounting Agency's Distinguished Public Service Medal, the Japanese Foreign Minister’s Certificate of Gratitude for contributions to U.S.-Japan relations, a Presidential Meritorious Service Award, and the Department of State’s Linguist of the Year Award.  He is a summa cum laude graduate of Princeton University, and also studied at the University of Tokyo.  Ambassador Knapper speaks Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese.
 
Ambassador Knapper is Founder and CEO of Knapper Global Advisors. He is also an advisor to Vietnam's International Financial Center in Ho Chi Minh City, a Principal at West Exec Advisors, and a member of the International Commission on Missing Persons' Panel of Experts.