Dr Surin Pitsuwan is the former Secretary General of ASEAN. Dr Pitsuwan has been a Member of Parliament in Thailand since 1986. He served as Thailand's Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1992 to 2001, and earlier as Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister and Assistant Secretary to the Minister of the Interior. He is a co-chair of the Commission on Human Security. Dr Pitsuwan also has taught at Thammasat University and worked as a columnist for the Nation Review and Bangkok Post. Dr Pitsuwan has been a Trustee of The Asia Foundation since 2003. A graduate in political science from Claremont Men's College in California, Dr Surin holds a PhD from Harvard University.