PC Degrees:  B.A./History

Activities Participated in as a PC Student:  R.O.T.C. Program, including membership in Pershing Rifles (the fraternal / community service wing of the R.O.T.C. Program) and the Rifle Team.

Career Path Highlights:   Byrnes served in a variety of assignments in the U.S., Vietnam, and Germany in the first half of his 30-year Army career, and spent almost the entire second half of his career in China. While in the Army he earned a master's degree in international relations from the University of New Hampshire and a master's degree in national security studies from the U.S. Naval War College.

After studying Mandarin Chinese at the British Ministry of Defense Chinese Language School in Hong Kong and at Beijing University, Byrnes was posted to the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong as a military liaison officer in 1987 and traveled widely in China, including three journeys to Tibet. In 1991 he was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing as the Army Attaché and first U.S. Defense Attaché to both China and Outer Mongolia, serving through 1997. He was promoted to Brigadier General in 1994 and served as U.S. Defense Attaché to Beijing, managing the Sino-U.S. military relationship until 1997. Byrnes was selected to promotion to Major General the same year. He retired from the Army on January 1, 1998.

Byrnes spent the next eight years in China in the corporate business world. He headed up Rockwell International's operations there as vice president for China operations, and then served as president of Tyco International, China, promoting Tyco's multi-faceted business capabilities and interests. At the time, Tyco was the largest American company in China, with 32,000 employees and more than 40 operational units.

The retired Army Brigadier General is currently president of Middle Kingdom Advisors, a government relations firm; a senior advisor to Yuan Associates, a Beijing-based government affairs service, and serves in a similar position with Amer-China Partners, also a Beijing-based firm, which provides vendor vetting, risk management, and other services to U.S. firms. The Bristol, R.I., resident also owns and operates a Chinese antique shop, Olde China Trader, in Bristol. 

Active in community affairs while working in China and Hong Kong, Byrnes is currently a member of the boards of YRC Worldwide (a U.S. logistics and transportation company); JHJU, a U.S.-China joint venture; Linden Place, a historic mansion in Bristol; and the International Engineering Program at the University of Rhode Island. He frequently lectures throughout the country about doing business in China.

Family: Wife, Marie; children, Chris, Meredith, and Patrick

Staying Involved: Byrnes occasionally speaks to PC's R.O.T.C. cadets about an Army career or about China.

"Transforming" Quotes: "During my junior year at Providence I took a course in Political Philosophy taught by Father Duffy (Rev. Francis C. Duffy, O.P. '53). That course included several classes in Confucian political philosophy. This is where my long interest in China and things Chinese began."

"The liberal arts education I received helped immensely to prepare me for my career and for life in general. The education I received at PC taught me to think critically and logically. It taught me a value system that encouraged respect for my fellow man, an appreciation for the importance of interpersonal relationships, and the central importance of the concept of the common good. This prepared me to be not only a good follower but a good leader."