The Asia Foundation Announces Three New Trustees

San Francisco, February 27, 2020 — The Asia Foundation, a nonprofit international development organization committed to improving lives across a dynamic and developing Asia, announces the addition of three new members to its Board of Trustees: Debra Knopman, Frank Lavin, and Ted Osius. The Foundation made the announcement at a recent Board of Trustees meeting where it also honored outgoing trustees who have completed their terms of service: former trustees, Jared Frost, Karl Eikenberry, Masako H. Shinn, Theodore Eliot III, and Noeleen Heyzer.

Debra Knopman is a principal researcher at the RAND Corporation and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. She served as vice president and director of RAND Infrastructure, Safety, and Environment, later called Justice, Infrastructure, and Environment, from 2004 to 2014. Apart from her RAND responsibilities, she serves as a director on the board of the Henry Luce Foundation. She served for six years (1997-2003) as a member of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board and chaired the board’s Site Characterization Panel. She was the director of the Progressive Policy Institute’s Center for Innovation and the Environment from 1995 to 2000. From 1993 to 1995, Knopman was the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, U.S. Department of the Interior. She had previously been a research hydrologist at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and later chief of the Branch of Systems Analysis in the USGS’s Water Resources Division. From 1979 to 1983, she served first as legislative assistant for energy and environmental issues to Senator Daniel P. Moynihan and then as professional staff member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

Frank Lavin is the CEO and founder of Export Now, a U.S. firm that operates e-commerce stores in China for international brands. In 2005-2007, Lavin served as Under Secretary for International Trade at the U.S. Department of Commerce. In that capacity, Lavin served as lead trade negotiator for both China and India and was the senior policy official in the Department responsible for commercial policy, export promotion, and trade negotiations across the globe. Lavin was U.S. Ambassador to the Singapore from 2001-2005, where his duties included helping negotiate the U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement. In the private sector, Lavin served in senior finance and management positions in Hong Kong and Singapore with Edelman, Bank of America, and Citibank.

Ted Osius joined Google in February 2019 as vice president for Government Affairs and Public Policy for the Asia Pacific. Previously a senior advisor at the Albright-Stonebridge Group, Osius served as U.S. ambassador to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam from 2014 to 2017. Leading a team of 900, Ambassador Osius devised and implemented strategies to deepen economic, security and cultural ties between the two countries. Earlier, Amb. Osius was associate professor at the National War College and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He served as deputy chief of Mission in Jakarta, Indonesia, and political minister-counselor in New Delhi, India. Osius also served as deputy director of the Office of Korean Affairs at the State Department, regional environment officer for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, and senior advisor on Asia and trade to Vice President Al Gore. Ambassador Osius has authored numerous articles on Foreign Service tradecraft and US-Asia policy, and is writing a book on U.S.-Vietnam reconciliation.

The Asia Foundation is a nonprofit international development organization committed to improving lives across a dynamic and developing Asia. Informed by six decades of experience and deep local expertise, our work across the region addresses five overarching goals—strengthen governance, empower women, expand economic opportunity, increase environmental resilience, and promote regional cooperation.

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