He assumed this position in August 1998. He is on leave from the University of Michigan, where he is Professor of Political Science and William Davidson Professor of Business Administration, Research Associate of the Center for Chinese Studies, Faculty Associate of the Center for Russian and East European Studies, and Faculty Associate of the William Davidson Institute. He has been on the University of Michigan faculty since 1983. He earlier taught at Swarthmore College for 19172‑83. He has a B.A. from Dartmouth College, and two M.A.'s and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University.

Dr. Lieberthal's government responsibilities encompass American policy toward all countries in Northeast, East, and Southeast Asia. He has staffed Presidential meetings with leaders of China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Australia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. He also has staffed and participated in the 1.998 and 1999 APEC Leaders Meeting trips, and has served on the North Korea Policy Review Team led by Dr. William Perry, among other duties.

Before joining the government, Dr. Lieberthal wrote and edited nearly a dozen books and authored about four dozen published articles. His books include: Governing China: From Revolution Through Reform (W.W. Norton, 1995); Policy Making in China: Leaders, Structures, and Processes (Princeton University Press, 1988) and Policy Making in China's Energy Sector (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1986), both co‑authored with Michel Oksenberg; Bureaucracy, Politics, and Decision Making in Post‑Mao China (U.C. Berkeley Press. 1991), co‑editor with David Lampton; Revolution and Tradition in Tientsin (Stanford University Press, 1980); Paths to Sino‑ US Cooperation in the Automotive Sector (US Trade Development Program, 1989), with Michael Flynn and others; and Central Documents and Politburo Politics in China (University of Michigan, 1978). His most recent articles are "The End of Corporate Imperialism" (with C.K. Prahalad), Harvard Business Review (July-­August 1998), which was awarded the McKinsey Prize for the best Harvard Business Review of 1998, and "'The Ties That Bind," The China Business Review (May‑June 1998).

Professor Lieberthal was Director of Michigan's Center for Chinese Studies for 1986‑89. He has served as a consultant for the U.S. Department of State, the World Bank, the Kettering Foundation, the Aspen Institute, and firms in the private sector. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C., and a number of professional organizations. He has also served on the Boards of the National Committee on US‑China Relations and The Research Center for Contemporary China at Peking University, and on the editorial boards of Asian Survey, 7he China Quarterly, 77ze China Economic Review, the Journal of Asian Business, and the Journal of Contemporary China.

Dr. Lieberthal is married to Jane Lindsay Lieberthal, a former University Administrator. He has two sons: Keith with the Washington law firm of Covington and Burling; and Geoffrey at Bain & Co. Dr. Lieberthal speaks Chinese and Russian.