J. Robinson West received his B.A at the University of North Carolina in 1968 and his J.D from Temple University in 1973. West was on the White House staff from 1974-76 and from1976-77 he worked with the Ford Administration as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Economic Affairs. From 1977 to 1980 West was Vice President of Blyth, Eastman, Dillon & Co., Inc., an investment banking firm. In 1981-83 he served in the Reagan Administration as Assistant Secretary of Interior for Policy, Budget and Administration, with responsibility for US offshore oil policy. His duties included preparation of the Department's $6 billion budget and general administrative oversight of its 75,000 employees. Since 1984 West has been the Chairman of PRC Energy, which he founded. He has served as a trustee of the $3 billion Trans-Alaska Pipeline Liability Fund, as a member of the Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel, the Industry Policy Advisory Committee on Multilateral Trade Negotiations of the US Trade Representative, and on the National Advisory Committee on Handicapped Children. Robinson was nominated by the President in 2003 as a director of the United States Institute of Peace and the nomination was approved by the Senate.