After a 34 years foreign service career, Nicholas Platt served for twelve years at the helm of the Asia Society before becoming President Emeritus on July 1. 2004. Trained in Chinese (Mandarin) at the State Department Language School 1962-63, he began his career in Asia as a China Analyst at the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong from 1964-68. In 1972 he accompanied President Nixon on the historic trip to Beijing that signaled the resumption of relations between the United States and China. He was one of the first members of the U.S. Liaison Office in Beijing when the United States established a mission there in 1973. He served in Canada and Japan and as U.S. Ambassador to Zambia (1982-1984), the Philippines (1987-1991) and Pakistan (1991-1992). Educated at Harvard College and Johns Hopkins SAIS, he is a member of the New York Council on Foreign Relations, a board member of the Friends of China Heritage Fund Limited, Chair of the US-China Education Trust Advisory Board, and on the Christie’s American Advisory Board. Since 2011, he has been the Senior Advisor on China programs for the Philadelphia Orchestra. His memoir China Boys was published in March 2010.