As a career U.S. Foreign Service Officer, he served as a Japanese-speaking diplomat in Japan for seven years; as U.S. Chargé d’Affaires to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva; and as Chief of Staff to the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. Dr. Cynkin also served as the Asian affairs advisor to two Deputy Secretaries of State and two U.S. Ambassadors to the United Nations, among other assignments. He is the recipient of multiple State Department awards, including a commendation from the Secretary of State for “extraordinary service to the American people” on the 9/11 Task Force.

Dr. Cynkin left the Foreign Service to lead the Washington operation of Fujitsu Ltd., a global information technology corporation, as Vice President and General Manager. He also served on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Information Technology Industry Council, a trade association representing Fortune 50 high tech corporations. He is a member of the Japan Commerce Association of Washington, D.C.

In academia, Dr. Cynkin has served as a Nonresident Senior Fellow in the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security; taught graduate seminars on the Chinese and Japanese economies at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs; and held a senior staff position at Texas A&M University’s Bush School of Government and Public Service in Washington, D.C. His analyses have often appeared in Japanese periodicals and interviews with Asia-based media.

Dr. Cynkin earned his Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and was a fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government before entering public service.