Jon M. Huntsman Jr. was elected to the Ford Motor Company board of directors in 2012. He serves on the compensation committee, nominating and governance committee and sustainability and innovation committee.

Huntsman was appointed chairman of Huntsman Cancer Foundation in 2012. He serves as chairman of the Atlantic Council of the United States and as a director of Huntsman Corporation, Caterpillar and Chevron.

He was tapped by President Barack Obama to serve as United States Ambassador to China and was sworn in immediately following his resignation as governor of Utah in 2009. As a dedicated public servant, Huntsman was committed to supporting the United States in one of its most critical international relationships.

Huntsman was twice elected governor of Utah, including in 2008 capturing a record percent of the vote and with the majority in all 29 counties. He governed with an eye toward maintaining Utah’s unparalleled quality of life, continually increasing the state’s economic competitiveness and maximizing funding to its public education system.

Huntsman’s breadth of experience in Asia has been developed over a lifetime of interest and involvement. He has lived in Asia four times and speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese.

Huntsman’s public service career began as a White House staff assistant to President Ronald Reagan and has since included appointments as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Asia and U.S. Ambassador to Singapore. As a trade ambassador, he negotiated dozens of free trade agreements, trade and investment framework agreements, and brokered bilateral and multilateral trade agreements for the United States with China, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia, India, Vietnam, West Africa, South Africa and other Asian and African nations. He played a critical role in launching global trade negotiations in Doha, Qatar, in 2001, guiding the simultaneous accession of China and Taiwan into the World Trade Organization.

He is a founding director of Pacific Council on International Policy, and serves as a distinguished fellow at the Brookings Institute, a trustee of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a trustee of the Reagan Presidential Foundation.

In Huntsman’s tenure as governor, Utah was repeatedly recognized by prestigious organizations for its dynamism, business climate and quality of life. Perhaps most importantly, it was named by Pew Center as the best managed state in America. In times of economic hardship, Huntsman worked with stakeholders to minimize impacts to critical human services while maintaining job-stimulating construction projects and keeping the state’s rainy day fund intact.

Recognized nationally for his leadership, Huntsman served as chairman of the Western Governors’ Association and on the executive committee of the National Governors Association.

Huntsman is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and has six honorary doctorates.