Taylor Ruggles

Taylor Ruggles is a Senior Foreign Service Officer on detail to The George Washington University as a Visiting Professor. From 2023-2024 he served as the Senior Advisor for COFA Implementation at the U.S. Department of State. He led the negotiations and implementation of the renewed Compacts of Free Association with the Freely Associated States. He previously served as Director of the Office of Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific Islands, responsible for the coordination of policy on Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Antarctica. From 2019-2021 he led the Office of Sanctions and Policy Implementation, overseeing the State Department’s implementation of 30 country-specific and global economic sanctions programs.
 

From 2015-2017, Taylor was the Regional Energy Counselor for Africa, based in Kigali, Rwanda. He led the State Department’s engagement with the countries of sub-Saharan Africa on energy policy and reform and helped lead the Power Africa initiative. Prior to assuming that position, he was a Deputy Executive Secretary at the White House National Security Council. From 2011 to 2014 he was Consul General at the U.S. Consulate General in Durban, South Africa. Before that, he served in the White House National Security Staff as a Senior Advisor for Middle East Affairs and, prior to that, he was Special Advisor to Vice President Biden, advising the Vice President on national security policy with Europe and Eurasia. Taylor has served twice in the State Department’s Executive Secretariat Staff, including as Deputy Director, and also served as a Senior Watch Officer in the Operations Center. 

Other Washington assignments include service with the Foreign Service Board of Examiners, Assistance Coordinator for Russia, and the Turkey desk officer.  His other overseas assignments include Embassies Oslo, Norway, and Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Taylor is a 2010 graduate of the National War College where he received an MA in National Security Studies, a 1996 graduate of George Mason University School of Law, and a 1989 honors graduate of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio.  He speaks Spanish, French, and Norwegian.