Ambassador Ravi Thapar serves as Senior Director and Head of USISPF’s West Coast office. He is a former career diplomat, having represented India as its Ambassador in Lebanon, New Zealand, Samoa & Niue, and Panama, Costa Rica & Nicaragua as well as Consul General in Milan, Italy. Ravi has handled key assignments as Head of Department (Joint Secretary) for Latin America & Caribbean and as Head of Department (Additional Secretary) for Counter Terrorism during his time at the Ministry of External Affairs (Indian Foreign Office). Previously he has also served as Consul (Commerce & Information) at the Consulate General of India in San Francisco.
In addition to navigating varied complex geopolitical issues during his tenure as a diplomat across 13+ countries, Ravi has passionately pursued Economic Diplomacy to solicit technology and investment alliances for Indian industry. He has negotiated multiple capital allocation deals, led delegations to multilateral events such as the Global Counter Terrorism Forum in conjunction with the UN General Assembly, and he has innovated on India’s Development Cooperation policy strategy by focusing on ‘expertise sharing’ partnerships in key economic sectors to strengthen bilateral ties in developing partner countries. Ravi has also founded multiple Indian Friendship Associations under the patronage of diplomatic missions to deepen cultural, economic, and commercial ties between India and the countries to which he was accredited.
Prior to USISPF, Ravi was Professor of Practice in International Affairs & Law and Executive Dean at the Jindal School of International Affairs, O.P. Jindal Global University (India). Ravi conducted research on global themes and taught graduate courses on contemporary global issues such as Economic Diplomacy, Challenges faced by the Global South, the Global Economic Divide, and India’s Strategic Ties with the US, Japan and Australia. He publishes regularly on his research regarding the Global South, including peer-reviewed publishers such as Springer International.
Ravi is a trained lawyer and is a member of the Bar Council of Delhi. He holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Economics and a Bachelor of Laws from Panjab University (India) and a Master of Laws (LLM) from the University of California, Berkeley (USA).