Alan Yu has been a career Foreign Service officer with the U.S. State Department since 1989. He has served in Washington, Tokyo, Beijing, and Chengdu, China. Over the course of his State Department career, he has worked on East Asian, African, and European regional issues. He has also been involved in United Nations, counterterrorism, and international environmental issues. Mr. Yu is currently studying Dari at the State Department's Foreign Service Institute to prepare for assignment at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul in summer 2008.

Prior to entering the Foreign Service, Mr. Yu was a foreign affairs analyst at the Congressional Research Service. He was also a Peace Corps volunteer in the Central African Republic. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and holds a master’s in public policy from University of California, Berkeley. He is married to Sharon Yanagi and has two children.