On June 11, 2010, Chris Taylor, Chief Executive Officer of Mission Essential Personnel (MEP), was elected to the Board of Trustees of The American University of Afghanistan (AUAF).

“Mr. Taylor will be a terrific representative of the university,” said AUAF Chairman, Dr. Akram Fazel.   ”With his decades of international experience, Mr. Taylor is a wonderful addition to the Board.  His dedication to Afghanistan and building its capacity – including education for women – is essential for our goal to educate the future leaders of Afghanistan.”

Taylor has more than two decades of international experience and is currently the CEO of MEP, a leading global professional services firm in linguists, cultural experts, and local professionals in Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia.  MEP also provides intelligence analysis support, training, and technical services for government, civil, and corporate sectors.

Taylor is a graduate of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he studied international security and political economy, and earned a Master of Public Administration degree.  He was also the Director of the Harvard Defense & Security Initiative and a member of the Defense Leadership Project at the Harvard Kennedy School Center for Public Leadership.

“I am proud to be joining the Board of Trustees of an organization that is making a real difference in the lives of these students and for the future of Afghanistan,” Taylor said.  “I look forward to helping AUAF meet its goals.”

Friends of the American University of Afghanistan (Friends of AUAF) is the development and communications center for the dedicated supporters of higher education in Afghanistan. Friends of AUAF is a corporation formed under the District of Columbia Nonprofit Corporation Act and is organized and shall be operated exclusively for charitable and educational purposes.

We are dedicated to supporting higher education in Afghanistan through entities such as AUAF, Afghanistan’s only independent, private, not for profit, non-sectarian, coeducational institution of higher learning.