The Hon. Todd Chapman
The Hon. Todd Chapman

The Hon. Todd Chapman

Board of Directors and Advisory Council Member

Former U.S. Ambassador to Brazil and Ecuador, GTSC Commissioner for Diplomacy

Ambassador Todd Chapman (Ret.) is an international business consultant serving on several corporate boards in the U.S. and in Brazil.  He recently concluded a 30-year diplomatic career, most recently as U.S. Ambassador to Brazil where he advanced a broad economic, security, and environmental agenda at the sixth-largest U.S. embassy in the world.  Ambassador Chapman was the first U.S. ambassador to be decorated with the Order of the Southern Cross, Brazil’s highest civilian honor for non-citizens.  Previously, he served as U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Political Military Affairs, and Charge d’Affaires in Mozambique.  His international experience also includes postings in Afghanistan, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Bolivia, Costa Rica, and Nigeria. 

Ambassador Chapman is the recipient of several State Department Meritorious and Superior Honor Awards and is one of only two U.S. ambassadors ever to receive the Mission Integration Award from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.  He was selected for the Presidential Distinguished Service Award in 2021, recently admitted into the American Academy of Diplomacy, and is a non-resident senior adviser with the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.  Ambassador Chapman earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Duke University and a Master of Science in Strategic Intelligence from the National Intelligence University.  He is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.

I am honored to join the Board of the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy and to contribute to the promotion of technology's role in advancing freedom and prosperity in the face of authoritarian challenges by untrustworthy actors. As U.S. Ambassador I witnessed first-hand the impact which The Clean Network and the Trust Principles have to embolden international governments and companies to resist totalitarian regimes and their use of technologies to repress rather than promote human freedoms. The Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy can develop the programs, thought leadership, and relationships necessary to bring together the best in technology with the best in governance.