Dr. Ketty W. Chen is the Taiwan country representative for the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the head of its Taiwan office. Prior to assuming her current post, Dr. Chen served as the Vice President of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD) from 2016 to 2023. During her tenure at TFD, she was responsible for overseeing international cooperation, grants, fellowship and general administration at the TFD. Dr. Chen also served as the Chairperson of Liberal International (LI)’s Human Rights Committee’s Women’s Rights Working Group from 2014 to 2016. Dr. Chen joined the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) as a member of its board of advisors in 2021 and is an expert associate to Australia National University (ANU) ’s National Security College. 

Dr. Chen is from Plano, Texas, USA and is a political scientist by training. She received her doctoral degree in political science from the University of Oklahoma, specializing in comparative politics, (democratization), international relations and political philosophy. Dr. Chen also holds two Master’s degrees in political science and international relations from the University of Oklahoma and obtained her Bachelor’s degree in political science and psychology from the Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas. Her contributed chapters appeared in “Taiwan’s Social Movements Under Ma Ying-jeou” and “Cities Unsilenced.” Ketty’s recent work was published in “Taiwan in Dynamic Transition: Nation Building and Democratization” in 2020. Her most recent article "Combating Beijing's Sharp Power - Taiwan's Democracy Under Fire" was published in the July 2022 issue of the Journal of Democracy. The upcoming book, "Defending Democracy in an Age of Sharp Power," where she is a contributor, was published in July 2023. 

Dr. Chen currently lives in Taipei, Taiwan with her husband and dog “Hanji”, which means “Sweet Potato” in Taiwanese.