Mr. Brian Roraff

Acting Vice Chancellor, Faculty Advisor, and State Department Chair

Brian Roraff is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service.  He joined CISA in 2023, coming from the Department of State where he most served as the Director of the Office of Northern European, Baltic, and Arctic Security Affairs, which was responsible for bilateral relations with the United Kingdom and Ireland, as well as the Nordic and Baltic countries.  Prior to that, he led the U.S. Embassy in Tallinn, Estonia as Chargé d’Affaires ad interim from 2019-2022. 

Staff assignments include working as a Special Assistant to the State Department’s Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, the senior Department official responsible for arms sales, nonproliferation, and arms control.  He subsequently worked as a Foreign Policy Fellow in the U.S. Senate.  He served two tours in Afghanistan, first as the State Department Senior Civilian Representative at the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Ghor Province, and subsequently in Embassy Kabul in the office that coordinated the work of U.S. civilians working in PRTs across the country.

Other assignments in Washington include as Deputy Director of the Office of Eastern European Affairs, which was responsible for U.S. policy on Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus, and in the Office of Central Asian Affairs.  Overseas, he has served in the U.S. Embassies in Russia, Ukraine and Armenia.

Prior to joining the State Department, he worked at the American Bar Foundation, the American Bar Association’s research institute that explored the intersection of
law and society.  He received a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Illinois and a master’s degree in history from The George Washington University.  He is married with two daughters.