Kenneth Juster

Juster was born in New York, New York. His father, Howard H. Juster (deceased in 2001), was an architect. His mother, Muriel (Uchitelle) Juster was a high school social studies teacher. He has an older brother, Andrew A. Juster, who recently retired as the Chief Financial Officer at the Simon Property Group, Inc. His uncle, Norton Juster, is 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. He attended Greenacres Elementary School, where he was named a Distinguished Alumnus in 2010. While at Scarsdale Junior High School, Juster and two friends (one of whom was Ed Sullivan's grandson) interviewed the Rolling Stones (Mick Jagger and Keith Richards) 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 to Thailand (1971), and a member of the varsity basketball team. Juster was named a Distinguished Alumnus of Scarsdale High School in 2007.

Juster graduated from Harvard College, Phi Beta Kappa, in 1976, with a Bachelor of Arts in Government. 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). Juster received a grant from the CFIA in 1975 to do 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 Rob Paarlberg. Juster completed a four-year joint degree program at the Harvard Law School (Juris Doctor) and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government (Master in Public Policy) in 1980.

Juster at the 2009 India Economic Summit

Juster was nominated by President Trump on September 5, 2017 to be the United States Ambassador to the Republic of India. He was confirmed by unanimous consent of the U.S. Senate on November 2, 2017, and appointed and sworn in on November 3, 2017. Juster presented his credentials to the President of India on November 23, 2017, thereby becoming the 25th U.S. Ambassador to India. During his tenure, Juster has overseen, among other activities, the U.S. co-sponsorship with India of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (November 2017), the continued expansion of trade and investment between the United States and India, the launch of the Strategic Energy Partnership (April 2018), the U.S.-India Civil Aviation Summit (May 2018), and the Two-Plus-Two Ministerial Dialogue between each country's Foreign and Defense Ministers (September 2018), which included the signing of the landmark Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA). Juster gave a widely acclaimed policy address in January 2018, which set out a vision for a durable U.S.-India strategic partnership.

Juster was the Deputy Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council from January 2017-June 2017.[6][7][8] In that role, he helped coordinate the administration's international economic policy and integrate it with national security and foreign policy. Juster was also a senior member of the National Security Council staff.[9] He helped establish the U.S.-Japan Economic Dialogue and the U.S.-U.K. Economic Dialogue. He contributed to the U.S. economic relationships with Canada, China, Germany, India, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea. Juster served as the President's representative and lead U.S. negotiator ("Sherpa") in the run-up to the 2017 G7 Summit in Taormina, Italy.

Juster was a partner at Warburg Pincus from 2010 to 2017.[10] He focused on a broad range of issues, including geopolitical risk, global public policy, and regulatory matters relating to the firm's investment activities and portfolio companies. He also founded and led the firm's environmental, social, and governance program and initiatives. From 2005 to 2010, he was Executive Vice President of Law, Policy, and Corporate Strategy at Salesforce.com, one of the fastest-growing software companies in the world, which pioneered cloud computing for business enterprises.[11] At Salesforce.com, he was a member of the company's executive committee and oversaw corporate development, legal affairs, global public policy and strategy, enterprise risk management, human resources, internal audit, and worldwide real estate.

Juster served as U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce from 2001 to 2005, in charge of the Bureau of Industry and Security. In that capacity, Juster oversaw issues at the intersection of business and national security, including strategic trade controls related to the exports of sensitive U.S. goods and technologies, imports and foreign investments that affect U.S. security, enforcement of antiboycott laws, and industry compliance with international arms control agreements. He also co-founded and served as the U.S. Chair of the U.S.-India High Technology Cooperation Group, and was one of the key architects of the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership initiative between the United States and India. His work related to India played an important role in the transformation of the U.S.-India relationship and helped provide the foundation for the historic civil nuclear agreement between the two countries. Juster was also responsible for negotiating and signing the End-Use Visit Understanding between the United States and China, which strengthened the security of exports of U.S. high technology to China. In addition, he launched the Transshipment Country Export Control Initiative, which enhanced security through increased export controls at major transshipment hubs such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Panama, and the United Arab Emirates. He also worked extensively with Israel on the export of sensitive technologies, and with European allies and Japan in coordinating export control initiatives. Upon completion of his term at the Commerce Department, Juster received the Secretary of Commerce's William C. Redfield Award and Medal, the Commerce Department's highest honor.

Juster served as the Counselor (Acting) of the U.S. Department of State from 1992-1993, and as the Deputy and Senior Adviser to Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger from 1989-1992. 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 New Independent States (NIS) of the former Soviet Union in January 1992, shortly after the collapse of the U.S.S.R, and led the first international delegation to meet with representatives of the NIS in Minsk, Belarus in February 1992. He was also a member of the five-man team that traveled to Israel directly prior to and during the first Gulf War to negotiate with the Israelis regarding their posture during that War. In addition, Juster was actively involved at State in policy matters relating to China, Japan, Latin America, and the Persian Gulf. Upon completion of his tenure at the State Department, Juster received the Secretary of State's Distinguished Service Award and Medal, the State Department's highest honor.

From 1981 to 1989 and 1993 to 2001, Juster practiced law at Arnold & Porter,[12] 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 1988-1989. 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. Juster also represented leading U.S. investment funds in Ukraine, Moldova, and Slovakia, and several non-profit organizations, including the National Endowment for Democracy, the Kennan Institute (George Kennan), 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 a Visiting Fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government in 2010 and 2011, and at the Council on Foreign Relations in 1993; as a law clerk in 1980 to 1981 to Judge James L. Oakes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; and at the National Security Council in 1978.

Juster has received numerous honors and awards, including:[13][14]

• Member, U.S. President's Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations, 2007-2010
• Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit from the President of the Federal Republic of Germany (for contributions to U.S.-German relations), 2006
• Secretary of Commerce's William C. Redfield Award and Medal, 2005
• Vasco Núñez de Balboa en el Grado de Gran Cruz Decoration and Medal from the President of Panama (for contributions to U.S.-Panama relations), 2004
• Blackwill Award from the U.S.-India Business Council (for contributions to U.S.-India relations), 2004
• Friendship Award from the U.S.-Panama Business Council (for contributions to U.S.-Panama relations), 2004, 2002
• Secretary of State's Distinguished Service Award and Medal, 1993
• Distinguished Alumnus of Scarsdale High School, 2007

Juster has published extensively on international economic and legal issues, including Making Economic Policy: An Assessment of the National Economic Council (Brookings Institution, 1997) and “The Myth of Iraqgate” in Foreign Policy magazine (Spring 1994). Juster's research, analysis, and public discourse on the so-called Iraqgate scandal was instrumental in demonstrating that, contrary to media reporting and popular opinion, there was, in fact, no improper or illicit assistance by the U.S. Government to Iraq in the lead up to the 1991 Gulf War. An Independent Counsel appointed by the U.S. Attorney General in the Clinton Administration subsequently investigated the Iraqgate claims and validated all elements of Juster's analysis.

• Biography at U.S. Embassy in India
• Kenneth I. Juster Biography on U.S. Department of Commerce web site (archive)
• Speech on U.S.-India Civil Space Cooperation
• Speech on U.S.-India Relations and High-Technology Trade
• Confirmation Hearing before U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
• Works by or about Kenneth Juster at Internet Archive