Kenneth I. Juster

Kenneth Ian Juster (born November 24, 1954) is a veteran American diplomat, who served as the United States Ambassador to India from 2017 to 2021.

He is currently senior counselor at the global law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, senior adviser at the institutional investor CDPQ, strategic adviser at the software company Salesforce, and distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Juster's career has spanned over 40 years in government, law, business, finance, and international affairs.

In the U.S. Government, in addition to being Ambassador to India, he has served as deputy assistant to the president for international economic affairs, at both the National Security Council and the National Economic Council; Under Secretary of Commerce; counselor (acting) of the Department of State; and deputy and senior advisor to Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger.

In the private sector, he has previously been a partner at the global investment firm Warburg Pincus, a senior executive at Salesforce, and a senior partner at the law firm Arnold & Porter.

Juster has also served as the chairman of the advisory committee of Harvard's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (where he is now a member of the Committee), chairman of Freedom House, and vice chairman of the Asia Foundation.

He is currently on the board of directors of the American Ditchley Foundation, the board of governors of the East-West Center, and the advisory council of the Bhutan Foundation.

He is also a member of the Trilateral Commission, the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Academy of Diplomacy, and the Council of American Ambassadors.

Juster was born in New York City.

His father, Howard H. Juster, was an architect.

His mother, Muriel (Uchitelle) Juster, was a high school social studies teacher.

He has an older brother, Andrew A. Juster, who was the CFO at the Simon Property Group His uncle, Norton Juster, was an architect and author, who wrote The Phantom Tollbooth and The Dot and the Line, among other books.

Juster grew up in Scarsdale, New York.

While at Scarsdale Junior High School, Juster, Peter Hillman and another friend interviewed Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones in 1966 for the school newspaper.

Juster graduated from Scarsdale High School in 1972, where he was the president of the Honor Society, an AFS exchange student in Thailand (1971), and a member of the varsity basketball team.

Juster received a grant from the CFIA in 1975 to conduct research in Japan for his senior thesis, "How Process Affects Substance: Japanese Foreign Policy Making During the Oil Crisis of 1972–1973," under Professors Edwin O. Reischauer and Robert L. Paarlberg.

Juster graduated from Harvard College, Phi Beta Kappa, in 1976, with a Bachelor of Arts in Government (magna cum laude).

While at Harvard, he was the research assistant to Professor Samuel P. Huntington, the general manager of Harvard Political Review, and an undergraduate associate of Harvard's Center for International Affairs (CFIA).

The Japan Interpreter published an abbreviated version of the thesis, entitled “Foreign Policy-Making During the Oil Crisis,” in its Winter 1977 edition.

Juster first worked in the U.S. government in 1978 as an intern at the National Security Council under one of his mentors, Samuel P. Huntington, who was the White House Coordinator of Security Planning.

In that position, Juster contributed to Presidential Review Memorandum/NSC-10 on the Comprehensive Net Assessment and Military Posture Review.

Juster completed a four-year joint degree program in 1980 at the Harvard Law School, graduating with a Juris Doctor (cum laude), and at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, graduating with a Master of Public Policy.

Upon graduation from the Harvard Law School, Juster served as a law clerk from 1980 to 1981 to Judge James L. Oakes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

From 1981 to 1989 and 1993 to 2001, Juster practiced law at Arnold & Porter, where he became a senior partner.

His work involved international arbitration and litigation, corporate counseling, regulatory matters, and international trade and transactions.

Among his noteworthy cases was his representation of the government of Panama-in-exile against the Noriega regime in 1988 and 1989.

In that matter, he coordinated a legal strategy that secured the overseas assets of the Government of Panama and helped institute U.S. sanctions against the Noriega regime, which was ousted from office.

The President of Panama subsequently awarded Juster the Vasco Núñez de Balboa en el Grado de Gran Cruz Decoration and Medal for contributions to U.S.-Panama relations.

In addition, Juster twice received the U.S.-Panama Business Council's Friendship Award.

Juster also represented leading U.S. investment funds in Ukraine, Moldova, and Slovakia, and several non-profit organizations and related individuals, including the National Endowment for Democracy, George Kennan and the Kennan Institute, and the Gorbachev Foundation.

In addition, he successfully argued cases in the U.S. Court of Appeals and in U.S. District Courts.

Juster served as the deputy and senior adviser to Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger from 1989 to 1992, and as the Counselor (Acting) of the United States Department of State from 1992 to 1993.

He was one of the key U.S. Government officials involved in establishing and managing U.S. assistance programs to Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, including setting up the initial Enterprise Funds for that region.

On behalf of Secretary of State James A. Baker III, Juster organized the first Coordinating Conference on Assistance to the Newly Independent States (NIS) of the former Soviet Union in January 1992, shortly after the collapse of the U.S.S.R.

He also led the first international delegation to meet with representatives of the NIS in Minsk, Belarus in February 1992.

In addition, Juster was a member of the five-man team, led by Deputy Secretary Eagleburger, that traveled to Israel directly prior to and during the first Gulf War to negotiate with the Israelis regarding their posture during that War.

Juster was also actively involved at State in policy matters relating to China, Japan, Latin America, and the Persian Gulf.

Juster served as a Visiting Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in 1993.

Juster was named a Distinguished Alumnus of Scarsdale High School in 2007.

He attended Greenacres Elementary School, where he was named a Distinguished Alumnus in 2010.