PR-1224E | Date: 05/08/2012
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) is pleased to announce the selection of Mr. Christopher J. Marut as the new Director of its Taipei office, succeeding Mr. William A. Stanton. Mr. Marut will assume his new duties in August 2012. The Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 designated the American Institute in Taiwan as the instrumentality to conduct the commercial, cultural and other relations between the people of the United States and the people on Taiwan.
Mr. Marut was born in Connecticut and was educated at the University of Notre Dame, where he received his BBA in Finance and Business Economics, and at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received an MBA. He also studied at the College of Naval Warfare in Newport, Rhode Island, where he received a Masters in National Security and Strategic Studies.
Over the 27 years of his career in the Foreign Service, Mr. Marut has developed a deep understanding of Asian affairs, including U.S.-Taiwan relations. Mr. Marut’s most recent assignment at the Department of State was Director of the Office of Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Island Affairs in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs (EAP), where he served as one of the key advisers on U.S. policy in the Asia-Pacific region. Prior to that, he served as Deputy Consul General at the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong, one of two U.S. consulates general worldwide that function as independent missions similar to embassies, and as Director of the EAP Office of Regional and Security Policy in Washington.
In previous assignments, Mr. Marut has served as the Deputy Director for Economics in the State Department’s EAP Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs, as Economic Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Malaysia, as an Economic Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong, and as a Science and Technology Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Mr. Marut previously served at AIT as a Consular Officer and Science and Technology Officer.
Immediately prior to entering the Foreign Service, Mr. Marut was the Managing Director for China Operations for a large U.S.-based multinational medical equipment manufacturer and supplier. Mr. Marut and his wife Loretta reside in Washington, D.C. They have two grown children, Carolyn and Kenneth, both of whom were born in Taiwan.