Ambassador Christopher R. Hill has been a career diplomat, an author, speaker, consultant, news analyst, foreign policy expert and professor. Prior to his most recent ambassadorship in Belgrade, Serbia,(2022-2025) Hill was a member of the School of International Public Policy at Columbia University serving as the George W. Ball adjunct professor for spring 2021. Previously at the University of Denver he served as the Chief Advisor to the Chancellor for Global Engagement and Professor of the Practice in Diplomacy, providing leadership on the global stage and strong relationships around the world. Ambassador Hill was previously the Dean of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at DU, a position he held from September 2010 until 2018.
Hill is a former career diplomat, a five-time ambassador, nominated by four presidents. He was Ambassador to Iraq, 2009-2010. Prior to Iraq, Hill served as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 2005 until 2009, during which he was also the head of the US delegation to the Six Party Talks on the North Korean nuclear issue. Earlier, he was the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea (2004-2005), U.S. Ambassador to Poland (2000-2004), Ambassador to the Republic of North Macedonia (1996-1999) and Special Envoy to Kosovo (1998-1999). He also served as a Special Assistant to the President and as a Senior Director on the staff of the National Security Council, 1999-2000. During his Foreign Service career, Hill served tours in Belgrade, Warsaw, Seoul, and Tirana, and on the Department of State"s Policy Planning staff and in the Department’s Operation Center. While on a fellowship with the American Political Science Association he served as a staff member for Congressman Stephen Solarz working on Eastern European issues. He also served as the Department of State"s Senior Country Officer for Poland. He received the State Department’s Distinguished Service Award for his contributions as a member of the U.S. negotiating team in the Bosnia peace settlement, and was a recipient of the Robert S. Frasure Award for Peace Negotiations for his work on the Kosovo crisis. Ambassador Hill served as a Peace Corps volunteer where he supervised credit unions in rural Cameroon, West Africa.