Christopher Runyan is Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Africa, with responsibility for West Africa and the Sahel region. Mr. Runyan was previously USAID's Senior Coordinator for the President's Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI).

He served at the White House on the National Security Council staff as Director for African Affairs responsible for West Africa. Mr. Runyan also served for several years at the Department of State as Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of State, and then as Senior Advisor for the U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan. Mr. Runyan joined USAID in 2003 as a Presidential Management Fellow, and has worked in several capacities in USAID's Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance; Bureau for Asia and the Near East; and Bureau for Africa.

Mr. Runyan has worked overseas on USAID program management, strategic planning, technical assessments and evaluations in Haiti, Bangladesh, Nepal, Morocco, Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, South Africa, Israel/West Bank, South Sudan, Sudan, and served on a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan embedded with NATO forces. Prior to government service, Mr. Runyan worked in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan for the Eurasia Foundation to develop civil society and economic growth.

He has a Master’s in Public Affairs and International Development from the University of Washington, and an undergraduate degree in political science from Ohio University.