Dan Rice is an experienced executive in leadership, strategic planning, fundraising, marketing and education.
He spent many years in Iraq and Afghanistan as a US Army officer and community activist. He was awarded the Airborne Badge, Ranger Tab and Purple Heart. In addition to his military experience, Mr. Rice has many years of leadership experience as president and co-founder of Thayer Leadership at West Point, a leadership development firm with a broad range of corporate clients and ranked among the top 40 leadership development firms in the world. He received four literary awards as an author, and is also regularly published and speaks on CNN, FOX, etc.
After the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, Mr. Rice came to Ukraine as a volunteer with valuable military experience. Understanding how important it is for Ukraine to receive support in this most acute period of military operations, the former US Army infantry officer became an advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny on a voluntary basis in May 2022.
In March 2023, Dan Rice left his voluntary position, accepting the offer of Kurt Walker, one of the co-founders of AUC, to lead American University Kyiv as the university's president.
In 2023, AUK President Dan Rice was awarded the Honorary Order of St. Barbara by the US Field Artillery Association (USFAA) in recognition of his contribution to the provision of cluster munitions for Ukraine.
Dan Rice was educated at leading American universities: a master's degree in business administration at the Kellogg Graduate School of Business of Northwestern University, a master's degree in marketing at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern, a master's degree in education at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a graduate of the West Point Military Academy with a bachelor's degree in national security.