Dave Rank is the head of the China practice at The Cohen Group, a global business strategy consultancy, a Senior Fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and teaches at the Johns Hopkins University School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and the University of Wisconsin’s La Follette School of Public Policy. He spent 27 years as a State Department Foreign Service Officer, including his final assignment as Deputy Chief of Mission and, following the 2016 election, as the Charge’ d’Affaires (acting Ambassador) at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.
In addition to six Foreign Service assignments in greater China (including Beijing, Shanghai and the American Institute in Taiwan), Dave served in Washington and at the U.S. embassies in Kabul, Athens, and Port Louis (Mauritius). In 2015, he received the State Department’s Distinguished Honor Award for his role in the release of the only American servicemember held by the enemy in Afghanistan.
Mr. Rank speaks Mandarin Chinese, French, Dari and Greek and received the American Foreign Service Association’s Sinclaire Award for the study of languages and their related cultures. He and his wife, Mary, have three children.