Dr. I-Chung Lai is currently President of The Prospect Foundation. He served as Director General for Department of International Affairs from 2007 to 2008 and Director General for Department of China Affairs from 2006 to 2008 in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Prior to that, he was also Special Assistant for Policy to the Taiwan Representative to Japan from 2000 to 2003, Executive Director for DPP Mission in the United States from 1999 to 2000, and Vice President of the Taiwan Thinktank since 2013 to 2016. He received his Ph.D. degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) and was Visiting Researcher at Cornell University.