Michael McFaul

Michael Anthony McFaul is an American academic and diplomat. He served as the United States Ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014. Currently, McFaul is the Ken Olivier and Angela Nomellini Professor in International Studies and the Director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. He is also a Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. McFaul has worked for the U.S. National Security Council as Special Assistant to the President and senior director of Russian and Eurasian affairs. He was the architect of U.S. President Barack Obama's Russian reset policy. McFaul is a contributing columnist at The Washington Post. Born in Glasgow, Montana, he was raised in Butte and Bozeman and attended Bozeman High School.