Heritage Foundation Leadership for America

Walter Lohman is Director of The Heritage Foundation's Asian Studies Center.

The Asia Studies Center is Heritage's oldest research center.  Established in 1983, its research fellows and scholars analyze the full range of policy in East and South Asia and develop recommendations to further American interests in freedom and security.   Lohman joined Heritage in 2006 as Senior Research Fellow for Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand.   

Before joining Heritage, Lohman served as Senior Vice President and Executive Director of the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council for four years. There, he oversaw the council's mission of building U.S. market share in Southeast Asia, led multiple delegations of Fortune 500 companies to the region, participated in prominent business and policy forums and regularly represented the council in its interaction with high-level ASEAN officials.  In the late 1990s, Lohman was the council's Senior Country Director representing American interests in Indonesia and Singapore.             

The other part of Lohman's career has been spent as a Senate staff member. In 2002, he served as senior professional Republican staff advising Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC), the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on issues affecting East Asia. From 1991 to 1996, he served as a policy aide to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), during which time he advised McCain on foreign policy, trade and defense issues.  

Lohman has a bachelor's degree in humanities from Virginia Wesleyan College and a master's degree in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia.  Originally from Norfolk, he now resides in Falls Church, Va., with his wife and three sons.