Ambassador (ret.) Matthew Bryza is Managing Director of the Istanbul office of Straife, a Houston-based risk management and corporate strategy firm. He also serves on the Boards of energy and engineering companies operating from the greater Caspian region to the UK to California. Additionally, Bryza is a Board Member of the Jamestown Foundation, a think tank headquartered in Washington, DC. He was previously Director of the International Center for Defence and Security in Tallinn, Estonia, and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council.
Matthew completed a 23-year career as a U.S. diplomat in 2012, with his final post as Ambassador to Azerbaijan. Earlier, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and Director on the National Security Council Staff at the White House covering Turkey, Cyprus, Greece, Central Asia, and the South Caucasus, as well as energy security in the greater Caspian region and Europe. He is a frequent commentator in media outlets that have included CNN, Al Jazeera, BBC, Fox News, Skye News, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Chicago Tribune, as well as numerous outlets in Turkey and the South Caucasus.
Ambassador (ret.) Bryza is the recipient of Estonia’s Cross of Terra Mariana and Georgia’s Order of St. George. He received his bachelor’s degree in international relations from Stanford University and his master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
