Ambassador Jack Perry was a Foreign Service Officer from 1959 to 1983. He served under seven presidents starting under President Dwight Eisenhower and left under President Ronald Reagan. His foreign assignments included postings to Stockholm, Moscow, Paris and as U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria. Prior to his retirement Ambassador Perry was a Diplomat-in-Residence as the John C. West Professor of International Studies at the Citadel, Charleston, S.C.

From 1985 to 1995 Perry was Director, Dean Rusk Program in International Studies and professor of political science at Davidson College. He received the Omicron Delta Kappa Outstanding Teacher Award.

Ambassador Perry served on the Board of Trustees, Agnes Scott College, Atlanta and was a Visiting Professor of Political Science, University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He was a columnist for the Charlotte Observer from 1985 to 2008.